


Where They Didn't Notice They Were in Love Until They Did

by orphan_account



Series: Flufferoonyverse [1]
Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Anal Sex, BUT ITS NOT SAD OR ANYTHING, Blow Jobs, Cheating, Christmas, Christmas Party, Crossdressing, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, M/M, New Years, Nothing Hurts, Rimming, Roommates, Smut, Winter, after breakup, awkward!Gerard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 04:18:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2799284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Listen," Gerard sighed, setting aside the jacket. "We really need to talk about...y'know."<br/>"Last night," Frank sighed, nodding, scooting away from Gerard a little.<br/>"Um... I'm not gonna lie, so....," Gerard trailed off, shaking his head and clamping his lips shut a moment later. Frank wanted to pry them apart with his tongue so badly it hurt, he wasn't even gonna lie to himself about this anymore.<br/>"I've, um. I dunno, last night wasn't, like, <i>bad</i> or anything," Gerard sighed, sucking on his bottom lip. Frank stared unashamedly.<br/>"Right."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where They Didn't Notice They Were in Love Until They Did

**Author's Note:**

> This was the longest thing I've ever written with my heart and soul, so please go easy on me! (I tend to suck at longer stories)

Frank tiptoed into Gerard's room, careful to not wake up the man or the cat sleeping on the mattress at the foot of the bed.  
He went through his best friend's closet, picking out a T-shirt at random, heart clenching when he saw it was Gerard's white "LynZ" shirt. He had kept it all these years? Frank's eyes widened when he remembered that Gerard was still in love with her. He glanced at the innocently sleeping man that was drooling onto a Jack Skellington pillow, biting his lip when he remembered finding her "Gerard" shirt in the trash after she had officially moved out and Gerard begged him to live with him, not wanting to do anything stupid or to be alone. He didn't have the heart to tell Gerard that it was really over.

Gerard gave a soft snort and turned over, smacking his lips and mumbling something incoherent about sprinkle glabellas, nudging his cat, Olivia's, tiny ball of a body in his sleep. Olivia quietly made a little chirruping sound, then laid her head back down on her hind legs. Frank preferred dogs, to be honest, but Olivia was too cute to not love.  
He quickly replaced the shirt and grabbed a different one, Gerard's burntAmerican flag one, that Gerard thought was cool and rebellious, but Frank though was...lame.  
He tried to tiptoe out of the room, but he tripped on a Chewbacca action figure and fell to the floor with a thud, waking up Gerard, who sat up suddenly, red hair all over the place.  
"Whazzagoinon?" He slurred, making Frank suppress a giggle as he lifted himself off of the floor, rubbing his knee and nose with a wince.  
"Aww, are you okay?" Gerard asked, more coherent now, opening his arms for Frank to walk into, which he did.  
"Yeah, just hurting a little," Frank mumbled, settling his head against Gerard's chest, loosely throwing his arms around Gerard's waist. Gerard hugged Frank like he was a girl, which used to bother Frank, but he soon grew used to it, knowing that Gerard was just missing LynZ. Last year, he had decided that it wasn't healthy anymore, and that he should stop pretending that Frank was LynZ, because they were _friends_ , and it had also been two years since they broke up. Frank didn't want Gerard to keep putting it off, he had to get over her sometime. But then, Frank started to enjoy the girl hugs, too, so he just kissed manly hugs goodbye and didn't mention it to his friend.  
Gerard leaned down a bit and pressed his lips to Frank's knee in a chaste kiss, then straightened up and pecked the tip of Frank's nose, mumbling an "all better?" Frank just nodded, hugging tighter, because he was used to Gerard and his opposition to personal space.  
When they pulled away, Gerard was smiling lazily at Frank, and his heart ached with affection for his sleepy, adorable friend. He'd force LynZ to love him again if he could, but he couldn't, so he tried his best to make Gerard happy in other ways.  
"Bad floor, you hurt my Frankie. If he died, I wouldn't have a gay best friend to go shopping with!" Gerard scolded, shaking a finger at the ground, and Frank giggled, lightly punching Gerard square in the chest.  
"Shut up, Gee. And besides, I'm not gay."  
"Mm hm. I _totally_ saw you checking out Zac Efron's ass when we watched High School Musical last week," Gerard smirked, and Frank rolled his eyes.  
"He doesn't count. He's Zac Efron, liking him doesn't make you gay."  
"But liking me doesn't either. The fans said so," Gerard grinned, referring to the band they had been in up until last year.  
"Yes it does, which is why I don't like you," Frank reasoned.  
"Wait, so you'd like me if you _were_ gay?" Gerard laughed, crinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.  
"Oh, yeah. You're a total hottie," Frank nodded, keeping a straight face. Gerard just shook his head.  
"Not everyone thinks so," he said quietly, and Frank's good mood deflated immediately. He knew who Gerard was talking about.  
"Gerard...," he sighed, and Gerard looked at Frank, eyes searching.  
"I'm sorry, I know, I'm over her, it's ju-"  
"No you're _not_ over her, don't give me that bullshit!" Frank groaned, rubbing his face with his hands, looking at his friend through his fingers.  
"Wait, move your hands down a bit," Gerard said out of nowhere.  
"What?"  
"Just do it!" he urged, and Frank wordlessly obeyed, sliding his hands down so his fingertips were below his eyes,  
"Okay?"  
"You look like Bane," Gerard said, laughing, and Frank frowned and pulled his hands away from his face, unamused.  
"You're changing the subject."  
"Is it that obvious?" Gerard asked, looking down and fiddling with the duvet.  
"Yes, now we're gonna have to do something about this LynZ-"  
"Don't say her name," Gerard begged, sounding pained.  
"This LynZ problem," Frank finished, ignoring the older man's pleas.  
"I don't have a problem! I'm over her, okay?" Gerard raised his voice, defensively, waking up Olivia, who stood up, stretched, and strutted out of the room.  
"Then delete her number from your contacts list! Then get rid of her picture behind the one of Olivia in your wallet! Then stop refusing to go on dates! Then stop acting like she's not gone! Then get rid of your LynZ shirt! And stop treating me like I'm a fucking girl, okay? I'm here to be here for you, not to trick your heart into thinking you're with someone, and I'm getting really tired of this! You think I didn't notice anything? I'm not an idiot, Gerard!" Frank shouted, getting mad. Gerard's face visibly fell from angry to sad in a heartbeat, and Frank immediately regretted what he had said.  
Gerard just laid back down and turned his back to Frank, silently.  
"Dude," he sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm a jerk, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it-"  
"You're right, though," Gerard almost whispered, voice quiet and almost three octaves higher than usual or something.  
"No, no I'm not," Frank said, quickly, even though he actually was.  
"Yes, you are. I'm not over her yet, and i really do need to get over it," Gerard sniffled, sadly.  
"Gerard," the younger man breathed, shuffling forward on his knees, leaning down and awkwardly lying down, wrapping an arm around Gerard, turning his face into the one-sided hug, and getting a mouthful of bright red hair on accident. He blew it out, crinkling up his nose, and then nuzzled his face into the sweet-smelling, shampooed, soft, and dried-out-from-too-much-dye hair.  
"Are you sniffing my hair?" Gerard asked, offering a watery giggle, and Frank smiled into the back of his best friend's head, and nuzzled even closer, inhaling loudly.  
"Of course not."  
"Creep," Gerard said, and Frank could hear the smile in his voice.  
Gerard rolled over so that they were facing each other on the bed, and he could reciprocate the hug, wrapping his leg and both arms around Frank, so that Frank couldn't move at all.  
"I love you," Gerard blurted, and Frank smiled, to himself.  
"I love you, too," he said honestly. Gerard was the best friend he'd ever had.  
"I mean, you put up with all my shit, you're always here for me, you don't even mind that I totally friend-zoned you-"  
Frank kneed him in the stomach, laughing.  
"I've told you a thousand times, it was the other way around, hag."  
"Noooo, it was totally you," Gerard smirked, unwrapping his arms and legs, so they were just lying down and facing each other, giggling and arguing over who had a crush on who, even though it was neither if them, which they knew, but they always ended up taking this conversation _way_ too seriously.  
"You know, a fan sent me a fanfiction yesterday," Gerard said out of nowhere.  
"Yeah?" Frank asked, eyebrows twitching up, internally hoping it wasn't a poorly written sex scene between Gerard and his brother, Mikey.  
"It was about us," Gerard nodded, waggling his eyebrows.  
"What? Oh, ew. I bet you wrote it," Frank giggled, referring to their previous conversation.  
"Did not," Gerard grinned. "Sure wish I did, though. It was amazing."  
"Wait, what?"  
"Uh, yeah. It had, like, a plot and it was _amazingly_ written, okay? I totally cried at the end."  
"Really? You're not messing with me?" Frank asked, disbelievingly. Fanfictions could have plots? "I wanna read it, then."  
"Okay, hold on, lemme find the link that the kid sent me!" Gerard said, molesting his bedside table for his phone until he found it, and eventually located and tapped the link before handing it to Frank. Frank just read with a sort of intrigued wariness.  
After a couple chapters, Gerard lost his excited grin and started getting bored.  
"Wait, what did you come in here for in the first place?" he asked, and Frank snapped out of his awed reading of the story and frowned, remembering all of a sudden.  
"Shit! I completely forgot, I was borrowing one of your shirts, 'cause all of mine are in the laundry, I had a date with Jamia, and it's in...," Frank checked his watch, "Fuck, it's in twenty minutes!" He got up and grabbed the shirt off the floor, sprinting to the bathroom to get ready, leaving an unimpressed Gerard, who happened to not like Frank's kind-of-but-not-yet girlfriend.  
"I am _so_ late!" Frank shouted from downstairs, pulling on a sock as he hopped to the door. "I'm gonna have to speed to get there on time," he told Gerard, who was walking down the stairs.  
"Or you could-" he started, but Frank cut him off with a "gotta split, banana!" and ran out the door, slamming it behind him.  
"...stand her up," Gerard finished, staring at the door.

xxx

I bet you're wondering _why_ exactly, does Gerard dislike Jamia so much?  
He has an entire list prepared for this, how convenient!  
1) She doesn't follow him on Twitter, that bitch  
2) She's LynZ's best friend  
3) She told him that he looked weird and that his teeth were ugly. Frank just laughed and said that 'he liked her honesty.'  
4) She stole Frank from him  
5) She treats Frank like shit, and Gerard like even more shit  
6) She's a mean person  
7) She dresses like a prostitute  
Yep, that's it. WAIT, no it's not. I forgot  
8) She's cheating on Frank  
Yeah, you read that right. That bish is cheating on _his_ Frank! Why hasn't Gerard told Frank yet? Because he doesn't want to see him get hurt, that's why. He doesn't _ever_ want to be the person to tell Frank that Jamia's been seeing her old college sweetheart behind his back. That's why he keeps trying to get Frank to break up with her.  
He had found out about it when he went to Starbucks last month, and he had turned around with his coffee to get a table, when he noticed that girl that Frank was dating with some other guy, who both stood up to leave, and Jamia kissed his cheek, telling him that she had fun on their date, and that she hoped they could do it again. Then, he sort of started to spy on her, and saw them going out again, and soon enough, thanks to his creepy stalker skills, found out his name, number, where he lived, and how they met. And also that his mother couldn't cook, but that's not important.  
They never noticed him, which was lucky for him. He even had recorded evidence in his phone for Frank, but then he changed his mind and backed out, not wanting to see Frank hurt over a girl as much as he was over LynZ. Frank was too nice for that. Except for when he hogged the bathroom.  
Gerard was watching British reality tv, some show about irresponsible kids living together and winning a world trip or something. It was called something tacky, like Young, Dumb, and Living Off Mum or something. He wouldn't know, it's not like he recorded the entire season... Shut up, he didn't!  
He wasn't going to admit to anyone that he was just waiting for Frank to come home (he had seen every episode of this show a thousand times, but you can't tell anyone. Not even your mom.) He had a life besides bothering his best friend... Shut up, he did!  
Finally, after hours of in-denial-waiting, Frank came home, all smiley and pink-cheeked from the snowy weather outside.  
"I told her I loved her today," he informed Gerard, almost singing it, and dancing around the hall with no one, because his girlfriend wasn't here, and even if she was, she had no right to dance with him, because Gerard did it first. So that bitch better back off.  
"And what did she say?" Gerard asked, not voicing his thoughts.  
"She said she did, too! Aaah, Gerard, I'm so happy! And guess what else? In seven months, I'm gonna be a-" Frank started, spinning around. Gerard just darkly thought that he had overheard her and Rodney, the other guy, exchange those words, weeks ago.  
"Are you guys even exclusive?" Gerard cut him off, getting worried. He should've told Frank before it got too far. He was such an idiot.  
"Yes, weren't you paying attention when I told you last week?" Frank asked, frowning.  
"Uhhh...," Gerard said, drawing it out.  
"Whatever, yeah, we are."  
"Why do you even like her?" Gerard finally tried, getting desperate.  
"Why don't you like her? What do you have against her?" Frank shouted, getting mad.  
"She's...she's a bitch!" Gerard said, being his usual wimpy self.  
"No, she's not! You're just acting jealous because I don't have as much time for you! Well, guess what? I have a fucking life, too! And I've spent half of it trying to make you be happy, can't you let me be happy for once? And besides, I can't fucking take care of _you_ all the time, seeing as I'm gonna have to look after two people soon!" Frank yelled, getting red in the face, and Gerard was stung by the harsh words, but he didn't back down. Or notice that Frank said two people.  
"You can't be with her because I don't want you to be sad, okay?!" he argued, deciding to just man up and tell him already.  
"What does that even me-"  
"She's fucking cheating on you!" Gerard screamed. Frank stopped talking all at once, going silent, stony-faced.  
"Gerard, I get that you don't like her, but how could you stoop so low that you accuse her-"  
"I have fucking proof, okay? Just look at it!" Gerard said, getting out his phone.  
"I trust my fucking girlfriend, I'm not gonna look at whatever overreaction you came up with! And have you been spying on her?!"  
"Yes, but- Wait, you trust her, someone you met two months ago, more than me, your best friend of over a decade?" Gerard asked, hurt beyond repair.  
"I love her, Gerard!"  
"Don't you love me?" Gerard tried.  
"Yes, but not the same way!" Frank said, frustratedly pulling at his hair.  
"Oh, so you value one kind more than the other? You value her more than me? I bet that you'd let me die to save her, huh? I bet you'd let me die anyways, if she wanted you to! You don't even fucking care, do you?" Gerard said, his shout quieting to almost a whisper.  
"No, that's not true at all! I just trust her, is all," Frank said quickly, knowing it was bad for Gerard to get in the mindset that no one cared.  
"And you don't trust me?" Gerard repeated, glowering.  
"I do!"  
"Then look at the fucking video!"  
"Why'd you spy on her in the first place?"  
"Because I saw her on a date with some guy, and I care about you and don't want you to get hurt, so i spied on her, okay? You think I would do all that just because I don't like her? You don't seem to know me as well as I thought, then," Gerard sulked.  
"I do, okay? I trust you. I...I'll watch the stupid video, if it makes you happy," Frank sighed, giving in, and running a hand through his hair, coming over and sitting down on the couch next to Gerard. Gerard tapped on his Photos icon on his phone, swiping right until he reached the video, handing the phone to Frank when he found it. Frank wordlessly rolled his eyes, pressing play, and the video started.  
Since I am a narrator, it's kinda my job to describe what's happening, so let's pretend I'm Morgan Freeman, okay? It's better that way.

Rustling around and static. Poor visibility at the moment.  
Picture clears, you can see our suspect Jamia Nestor, certified bitch, sitting on a park bench with a man, who can be recognized as Rodney Martin from Jamia's high school yearbook's "Cutest Couple" picture.  
More rustling, as the camera man pushes aside some leaves from the bush that he was hiding behind. That's right, folks, it happens in real life, too. People hide behind bushes.  
Jamia leans over and kisses said man, then pulls away, smiling. They get up and walk towards the bush, and the camera man lets the leaves cover him again, not wanting to get caught. You can hear their voices now, getting louder as they near the bush.  
"Jamia, you have a boyfriend. I feel kinda bad, but I want you all to myself," that Rodney douche says.  
"Soon, babe, soon."  
Camera man turns the camera around to see his face, which doesn't work because he sucks at his job, so you see the top left half of his head, and the top of his ear.  
"It's December....uhhhh.....a few days before Christmas, I don't know the exact date," he finishes.  
How unprepared of him.  
"Wait, no! It's the twentieth."  
More rustling, video ends.

Frank just drops the phone into his lap, wide eyed and stunned, jaw loose.  
"That was two days ago," Frank whispered.  
"Frank, I'm sorry-" Gerard started, but Frank just kept staring ahead, at the blank tv screen.  
And then he started to cry. He buried his face in his hands, and his shoulders started shaking, and he would occasionally make sniffle-y noises, and he pulled his legs up so he was curled up in a ball, and Gerard didn't know what to do, so he just flapped his hands around uselessly, until he settled on just patting Frank's head.  
Wait, he should probably hug him. Yeah, right, a hug. Oh, and keep it manly, you know how upset he was this morning about treating him like a girl.  
So Gerard just thumped Frank on the back, awkwardly, until he got tired of it. That wasn't how they worked anymore, they had girly hugs now.  
So he gave him the girliest hug ever, holding him tightly with both arms, petting his hair, kissing his temple, and telling him over and over again that he was sorry.  
He felt especially bad that he had to wait for Frank to fall in love with her to tell him, and he felt even worse when he thought of how ecstatic Frank had been when he came home, and now he was a crying mess.  
But, a tiny part of him was smug, knowing that he was right, and now Frank would dump her ass, because _he_ was a good friend and told him.  
"How...Gerard, how c-could she do this to m-me?" Frank blubbered, grabbing at Gerard's shirt and crying into his chest.  
"I'm sorry, Frank, she's a bitch. You can do so much better. She isn't gonna get away with this, you're not gonna let her!" Gerard promised, wanting to be there when Frank dumps her, for some reason.  
"I...I love her, though. If she's sorry, I mean, like, if she stops seeing him and stuff..."  
"You're seriously not dumping her?!" Gerard asked, stunned.  
"I can't!"  
"Why not?"  
"Why should I?"  
"Because she wasn't faithful to you, and you deserve better!"  
"I...I just can't."  
"WHY?"  
"She's fucking pregnant, okay?!" Frank shouted, and Gerard's eyes widened.  
"You guys went all the way? Why didn't you tell me?"  
"I mean, it was once, and I don't remember it that well, but-"  
"Let's see, you're drunk, you make out a lot, she tells you that you did, but you didn't?"  
"What the hell could've happened otherwi- Oh," Frank said, getting quiet again.  
"Yeah," Gerard said nervously, scanning Frank for any signs of 'I'm just gonna go and do something stupid now.'  
"I...I'm just gonna go and go to bed now," Frank sighed, getting up and walked towards the stairs.  
"I'm coming, too," Gerard said, being well experienced with this and knowing that Frank was gonna get drunk or something, like he had done with LynZ.  
"What? Why?" Frank asked, too taken aback. He was _used_ to Gerard, he knew that he was always up in your space, and sharing was normal between them. He was definitely gonna do something stupid.  
"Nightmares. British teenagers are fuckin' scary," Gerard lied, heading up the stairs behind Frank, then jumping into bed before Frank did, who changed into pajamas before he got in bed next to Gerard.  
"G'night," Frank muttered.  
"Night," Gerard said back, spooning Frank against his chest, getting comfortable, and falling asleep.

xxx

When they wake up the next day, Frank wakes up first. He must've turned around in his sleep, so his head is tucked into the crook of Gerard's neck(which was beyond uncomfortably warm for some reason, all of Gerard was today) , and their arms are lazily wrapped around each other, and their legs are tangled together underneath the covers. It sounds weird, but never in his life has Frank gotten uncomfortable to wake up like this. It's like if the voice in the back of his head that controls his instincts just snaps and goes, 'no more sharing a bed with Gerard' all the other voices would just stop their chattering and simultaneously go, 'WHAT?!'  
They've done this sort of thing since they met in high school, they shared bunks all the time when they were on tour when Gerard had his nightmares (he sleeps like a baby now), and they also would share hotel rooms, which only had one bed half the time, and even if it had two, they shared anyway. And they slept together all time once they started living together.  
Taken out of context, that last sentence sounds weird. Oh his _god_ , he could see why people always thought they were together now! He wanted to go back to sleep, but he had to pee, so he unwrapped his arms and legs from Gerard, and lifted his head off of Gerard's shoulder, though he would normally just snuggle closer and go back to sleep. But his bladder calls.  
He looked down at his sleeping best friend, who didn't drool everywhere for once. Gerard got really embarrassed, but Frank just laughed and told him it was cute, even though it made the pillowcase get weird spots and smell funny. He washed them twice when Gerard wasn't looking, so he wouldn't feel bad about his drool.  
Okay, got off topic there.  
The point is, Gerard was all peaceful and shit, and waking up next to him felt like warmth, and peace, and safety, and love.  
The point is that Gerard looks really fucking adorable when he's asleep.  
He wants to get out of bed and run to the bathroom before he explodes, but he needs to wake up Gerard before he leaves for work at the studio.  
"Gee, wake up," Frank coos, shaking Gerard's shoulder gently. Gerard just whines in his sleep, sluggishly slapping Frank's hand away.  
"Don't feel so good. M'not gonna come in....," Gerard pauses to yawn. "Come in to record today. I'd just sound like shit."  
Gerard does sound like shit, too, which makes Frank nervous. He feel Gerard's forehead with the back of his hand, then yells a 'Jesus Christ!' because he learned that from the 'cool' nuns at Catholic school that took the Lord's name in vain and weren't afraid.  
"Gerard, you're burning up like a Jonas Brother song!"  
"You totally have that song on your iPod," Gerard croaked out, smiling.  
"Do not," Frank mumbled, blushing, but then he remembered how _hot_ Gerard was, and- wait, not like that, you horndogs.  
Anyway, he got a thermometer and took Gerard's temperature for him.  
He waited for one minute, until the ancient contraption beeped, and pulled it out of Gerard's mouth, checking the small screen on the side.  
"We have to get you to a hospital, you have a 105° temperature," Frank informed him, picking up his phone to call in sick, ignoring Gerard's protests about hospitals.  
All throughout the call, Gerard wouldn't shut up, and Frank wanted to punch him. When he finally hung up the phone, Gerard had stopped complaining and was taking a nap. Frank sighed and moved some damp hair away from his forehead, leaning down and kissing the burning skin lightly and ignoring the strange sensation of his stomach turning at the contact, before heading to the bathroom cabinet to get an icepack. His brain was currently screaming at him to pee before helping Gerard, but that would make him a shit friend. He liked to imagine his brain as a forty year old talk show host, equal part sassy diva and drama queen. It would always get upset at him when he did stupid things, too, and would complain that it didn't understand men when he would do something manly, like chest-bumping someone, or being mean to girls he liked when he was younger. No one got that he did it for her attention! God, woman, it's not that hard.  
He runs back to Gerard, icepack in hand, and puts it on his forehead, so it'll bring down his temperature. He had found some Advil while he was in the medicine cabinet, so he brought that, too.  
"Hey, Gee, wake up," he said, shaking Gerard forcefully.  
"Noooooo," Gerard moans, throwing a pillow in the general direction of Frank.  
"C'mon we have to go to the hospital," Frank sighed, and Gerard's eyes widened.  
"NO! They have motherfuckin' needles!" he shrieked, grabbing at Frank's shirt and tugging on the fabric.  
"Okay, fine, no hospital. But I took the day off work, okay? Just tell me if you need anything."  
"You shouldn't have done that," Gerard frowned, and Frank just shrugged it off, because they both knew that was a lie.  
Gerard's eyes widened, and he shot out of bed, running to the bathroom and puking his guts up into the toilet, forehead sweaty. Frank held his damp hair away from his face, waiting until Gerard was finished, then let go of his hair, rubbing his back encouragingly.  
"Feel better now?" he asked, and Gerard nodded, wiping his mouth on some toilet paper, then flushing the toilet. Gerard just rinsed his mouth out with mouthwash, spat it into the sink, then headed back to bed, groaning about how shitty he felt. Frank just let him keep bitching, not really listening, because he knew it all. He used to get sick a whole fucking lot.  
He heads to the kitchen to make Gerard some breakfast, it was minestrone soup and hot jasmine tea for his fever, thanks for asking. He puts it all on a tray and carries it up the stairs to his room, since Gerard slept in his bed that night.  
"Eugh, is that coffee? I need some," Gerard groaned from the pile of comforters that he had wrapped around himself, sticking his head out of the "air hole" he had kept at the top. Today, he was a turtle, and the sheets were his shell. He could stick his head in and out of the shell, which was cool, and he wanted to be a turtle all the time now.  
"Sorry, no coffee, just tea. It's for your throat," Frank had said, putting the tray on the bedside table and sitting across from Gerard on the mattress.  
"Hey, Frankie?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Can I be a turtle?" the older man asked, and I'm pretty sure he was acting weird because of how sick he was, but it's hard to tell since he's always this weird.  
"Sure you can. If you believe," Frank nodded, forcing himself to keep a straight face. "Okay, so you should have the soup first-"  
"But I'm not hungry," Gerard whined, cutting him off. Frank rolled his eyes and picked up the bowl, taking a spoonful of soup and holding it out for Gerard, eyeing him expectantly.  
"Eat."  
"I'm not hungry!" Gerard cried, ignoring the spoon in front of his face.  
"My arm's getting tired," Frank sighed, remembering when his mom used to do that. Gerard made a huffy noise, looking like a petulant child, and leaned forward a bit to drink (eat?) the soup.  
"Happy?" he asked, sourly.  
"No, you have to finish it," Frank smirked, holding out the next spoonful. Gerard gasped and ducked his head back into his shell.  
"No!" he shouted, indignantly, and Frank just looked down through the air-hole at his friend.  
"Yes!" he mimicked Gerard's tone.  
"But I'm a turtle," Gerard reasoned.  
"How does that change anything?"  
"Because then I win," Gerard said, satisfied with himself, trying to act smart and confuse Frank into giving up, but it didn't work.  
"But you didn't believe yet, so you're not even a real turtle," Frank argued back, genuinely enjoying their meaningless bickering.  
"Fine, one more bite, and that's _it_ ," Gerard stated, poking his face out of the air hole again, and eventually, Frank coaxed him into having the whole bowl.

"Now, have your tea," Frank ordered once he was done wiping Gerard's mouth with a napkin for him, feeling a) like a mother and b) ridiculous.  
"Okay," Gerard said, opening his mouth expectantly, and Frank rolled his eyes, setting the empty soup bowl and spoon down on the bedside table rather forcefully, if I do say so myself.  
"I'm not feeding you, Gerard," he frowned, and the man in question raised his eyebrows.  
"Really? Because you just did."  
Frank narrowed his eyes and handed Gerard the tea, standing up from the bed, admiring the butt print he had made in the memory foam, than walked out the room and into the basement to write some new songs for his album that was coming out, making himself some tea along the way for his stomachaches that he'd been having a lot lately.  
He had hung a calendar over where he always set his guitar so that he wouldn't miss any deadlines for his songs, and noticed a circled date.  
Fuck, Christmas was in two days, and they hadn't done any decorating at all! Neither of them were religious, and Frank didn't even believe in God in the first place, so Christmas shouldn't really matter, but they liked the idea of celebrating anyway, and made a big deal out of it.  
Frank'll have to bring out the ornaments from the storage room today.  
Frank worked in peace on his newest song for a while, occasionally re-recording a part as he combed through the demo he created, editing it and changing some of the parts, just fixing anything that didn't sound right, really.  
A couple of hours of work later, Gerard came down the stairs to sit curled up in the corner of the battered couch they kept there because they bought a new one but were emotionally attached to this one and couldn't throw away. He was just listening to Frank work, occasionally throwing in some advice or compliment every once in a while, voice hoarse, but then he got bored and couldn't stop talking.  
"Maybe you should try down-tuning your guitar a half-step, if that's what it's called, the thingy where it's tuned half a step down, is that the proper terminology for it? But, besides the key, this part sounds really good, I really like the chorus, could you maybe have it one more time at the end? But this time you just end on the first verse instead of the full chorus, and I think the bass line that you threw away the first time would actually work better with this song, since you changed the guitar part, but the bass fits the bridge really well, I will say-"  
"Gerard, shut the fuck up." Frank set down his guitar, spinning around in his spinny chair to face his annoying best friend.  
"Sorry," Gerard whimpered, putting up the hood of his hoodie and curling up into a tighter ball, wiping his nose on his oversized hoodie sleeve.  
"It's fine," Frank sighed, getting up to collapse on the couch with Gerard. "Are you feeling any better?" he asked quietly, pulling Gerard's hood back down so that he could run his fingers through the firetruck red hair, which was dried out and frizzy from too much dye, but also incredibly soft because of his extra healing power conditioner.  
"Mm," Gerard makes a weird chirruping noise, leaning his head into Frank's hand, shuffling closer to him because he was cold, despite his oversized hoodie that was probably either Ray's or Bob's.  
"I'll take that as a no and give you more tea," Frank grins, starting to get up, but Gerard makes a protesting noise at the back of his throat and pulls him back down.  
"No, you're warm, stay here."  
"Gerard...are you sure? Is your temperature coming down?" Frank asked, uncertain, pressing the back of his hand to Gerard's forehead, his cheek, but folding his legs up underneath himself nonetheless.  
"Yeah, m'feeling a little better. Just sleepy," Gerard grunts, poking Frank a couple times before leaning his head onto him, like a pillow.  
"Okay, no problem, go ahead and sleep on me, that's cool," Frank mutters under his breath, and Gerard just snores a little, already knocked out, and Frank prays that he isn't going to drool on his favorite shirt.

xxx

Gerard drooled quite a lot on his favorite shirt, and when he woke up, he blushed a lot and apologized over and over again, but Frank played it off like it was okay, shrugging.  
"Gerard, it's _fine_ , it'll wash out," he smiles, wrapping an encouraging arm around his discouraged friend's shoulders.  
"But it's your favorite shirt," Gerard sniffles, and Frank rolls his eyes.  
"It doesn't matter, what matters is that Christmas is in two days, we haven't done anything, we have no plans, and you're still sick."  
"Oh, you're right. But, actually, Mikey invited us to some party a few days ago, I guess I forgot to tell you about it."  
"Oh, well, we still haven't decorated, and you can't be sick on Christmas! Why are we so behind on the decorations this year?"  
"It's because you were so busy with Jamia," Gerard blurts without thinking, and Frank bites his lip.  
"Sorry."  
"I'm stupid, sorry, I shouldn't have said that."  
"It's okay. You reminded me that I have to talk to her."  
"When are you gonna do it?" Gerard asks, quietly.  
"Um, we had a date for today, so I guess then. It's in...two hours. Are you gonna be okay without me?" Frank asks, and Gerard nods, looking mildly annoyed in a Gerard-y way. As in, really cute and not really annoyed and not mean and exasperated and adorable.  
"God, I feel practically normal now, I'll be _fine_."  
"Okay, okay, just checking," Frank says, defensively.  
"I love you," Gerard smiles, feeling very cared for.  
"I love you, too, man," Frank laughs at Gerard's overly bromanticness.  
"Now go get ready for that brate."  
"Brate?" Frank quirks an eyebrow, halfway off the couch.  
"Break up date," Gerard explains, and Frank nods.

xxx

Frank can feel the awkwardness in the air when he arrives at the diner twenty minutes late, apologizing quietly as Jamia just smiles and says it's okay. God, she's just making this harder for him by being nice, isn't she?  
They sit there for a while, Frank feeling more than a little sick to the stomach, and Jamia confusedly trying to start a conversation and getting more and more frustrated when Frank would shrug in response.  
"Frankie, is something wrong?" she finally asks, frowning, and Frank glances up at her from his plate, wide eyed.  
"Uh...yeah."  
"You know you can tell me anything, right?"  
"Really?"  
"Really."  
"Well, in that case...we, uh, need to break up," Frank rushes, smiling sheepishly, like a total douchebag. He sucks at breakups, and twice as much when he's the one doing the breaking upping.  
Jamia blinks at him for a moment, disbelieving, until she looks away and seems too interested in her bread roll. This is awkward and weird, and Frank is begging for her to say _something_ in his brain.  
"Um...okay," she shrugs. "Is this about Rodney?" she asks, looking at Frank, and Frank swallows and looks away, nodding.  
"Pretty much."  
"Well, I kinda deserve that," she sighs. "I'm really sorry, Frank," she adds, too sincerely for Frank's conscience. And resolve.  
"I mean," he starts talking, knowing that it's a bad idea, but keeps going anyway. "If...the baby, if it's mine, we'll have to work something out..."  
"No," Jamia mumbles, swallowing and rubbing a protective hand over her abdomen. "It's, uh, his."  
The silence returns, almost physically pressing at Frank's mouth to keep him from breaking it with something ridiculous, like-  
"Um, but...I guess it would matter if you, like, I don't know, maybe...um. If you had to choose...uh, would it be me, or...uh... Rodney...?" Frank stammers, hearing Gerard's voice in his head, screaming at him that he is an independent woman and don't need no man.  
"Frank," Jamia looks almost like she pities him, and Frank slides down in his seat a little.  
"Um, okay then. So...uh. See you around, I guess? I... I should go." And delete you from my contacts and cry a lot.  
"Yeah," Jamia nods, looking down at her clasped hands on the table, quietly inspecting her Sharpied nails to avoid eye contact.  
Frank opens his mouth to say something else, but then his sassy talk show host brain screams INDEPENDENT WOMAN, BITCH and he obeys, getting up and leaving the table, wordlessly.

xxx

When he reaches the apartment, he realizes that he had left Jamia to pay the bill, an the least he could've done was pay his half. Oops.  
When he mentioned that to Gerard, he got all upset and lectured him about how "that bitch" should pay every fucking bill they ever had together, to make up for being "unfaithful, that bitch" and how she didn't "deserve you, that bitch." And how she had the worst haircut for her face shape ever, that bitch.  
Frank faked a laugh and asked him if he was sure he was straight.  
"Yes," Gerard nodded, fervently. "You can ask all the hot women I have ravished about how straight I am, if you want."  
"So none," Frank rolled his eyes, smiling for real now.  
"Actually, LynZ was pretty hot," Gerard said without thinking, and Frank held his breath, happy that Gerard was over her when he said it, but then realized he wasn't when he watched Gerard's face fall a few seconds later.  
"I'm pretty hot," Frank added.  
"You're not a woman, and I haven't ravished you. And you're not hot," Gerard added, making a face.  
"Take it back!" Frank gasped, pretending to cry as he playfully shoved the older man, who apparently was not able to stand a playful shove and tripped backwards over his own feet.  
"Ow," Gerard frowned, looking at the floor as if he had no idea how it suddenly got there.  
"You tripped, idiot," Frank sighed, wanting to clear it up before Gerard would tell everyone he knew that his floors could move and were trying to eat him.  
"Okay."  
Gerard just stayed sprawled out on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, and Frank joined him on the floor after a few minutes of staring and wondering how such a weird person even existed. They just lay on their backs and stared at the ceiling, which was fairly plain besides a coffee stain that neither of them have a clue of how it got there. Gerard had eventually drifted off, mouth slightly open, drool forming at the corners already. Oh, well, at least it would be easier to clean this way. Frank shifted uncomfortably, because his shoulder blade was too pointy and was aching against the tile, and also because there was one of Olivia's toys under his buttcheek.  
After a few moments of ignoring how in pain his butt and back were, he sighed and heaved himself off the floor, patting Gerard on the head, and going into the basement to feed Olivia.  
The aforementioned cat appeared from the shadows that hung underneath Gerard's piano, rubbing her head against his ankle, purring. After he scooped some disgusting smelling cat food into her bowl, he went upstairs to crash on the couch and watch tv. He stepped over Gerard's still-sleeping-on-the-floor body and grabbed some grape soda from the fridge, because Gerard finished all the orange soda, the fucker.  
After Frank was done trying extremely hard to make no noise so he wouldn't wake Gerard and ended up tripping over everything and banging a bunch of pots and plates together, and slamming a couple cabinets while he was at it, he took his watching-tv-food and stretched out on their newer couch. It was this revolting mustard color that Gerard had picked "because he wanted it to have a home."  
What the actual fuck.  
That was also the reason they owned a zebra print armchair with a stuffed zebra head on the top. Gerard said he got it at a thrift store, but Frank feels like he may hove stolen it from their crazy neighbors with a picket fence they got to pretend that they were normal.  
But Gerard doesn't steal stuff, so not very likely. The one time he stole anything (he accidentally shoplifted a handout pen) he freaked out, cried, and made Frank drive him back to the store so that he could replace it after informing management of what happened and "apologizing deeply". And asking them to kindly not call the cops on him. Frank was too tired to explain to him that it was just a pen. And that they were handing them out for free.  
He could live like this forever, he suddenly thought. With his heartbroken best friend who would never be able to take care of himself, he was such a hopeless case.  
He could live with this quiet life they had set up for themselves, where no one mattered but each other and their cat, where everything was okay because they would always be friends, would always be there for each other. They could be roommates for the rest of their lives, and Frank would be happy. No girls, no dating, no nothing. He didn't need that anymore, not when he had everything he ever needed lying on the kitchen floor.

xxx

After a while, he grew bored of Spongebob and turned the tv off, just lying down on the couch and breathing. He glanced over the top of the couch to check on Gerard, who was still sprawled out on the kitchen floor, a puddle of drool forming by his head. Frank sighed and heaved himself off the couch to nudge Gerard awake with his foot, repeatedly poking Gerard's squishy face with his toe until he woke up, frowning, eyes bleary from sleep.  
"You're disgusting, Frank. You know I hate feet," Gerard whined.  
"You're disgusting, Gerard. You know I hate cleaning up your drool," Frank mimicked the older man's tone. Gerard ducked his head, blushing ashamedly.  
"Sorry. I can clean it myself, you know," he mumbled, sitting up properly and standing up to get a paper towel, cracking his back as he stood.  
Frank winced.  
"It's okay, I don't mind, you idiot. How many times do I have to tell you this?"  
"Sorry," Gerard said awkwardly, scratching his ear.  
""Don't apologize," Frank said dismissively, waving a hand around.  
"Sorry."  
"Gerarrrrrd!"  
"Sorry!" Gerard squeaked, hiding his face in his hands.

xxx

"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!"  
Frank wakes up with a jolt and a sudden weight on his stomach, knocking the air out of him, coming out of nowhere like some psychopath. With red hair and an elf hat.  
"Gerard?" Frank whines, squeezing his eyes shut against the sudden light.  
He feels Gerard lay down on top of him, because he can feel a shock of hair on his face and some of it went up his nose and he wants to sneeze.  
"Hi."  
"Hi," Frank smiles, finally cracking his eyes open a little to look through his eyelashes and get his eyes used to the light. He can see Gerard's face a few inches from his, scaring the shit out of him, beaming like a lightbulb.  
"IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!" he shrieks, and Frank thinks he might have gone deaf.  
"I noticed," he nods, trying to sit up but failing because Gerard is still resting on Frank's chest and staring at him.  
"I said merry Christmas Eve."  
"Oh, right. Merry Christmas Eve, Gerard."  
"Thank you," Gerard smiles again, sitting up and running off to bother Olivia and scream at her that it's Christmas Eve while she will probably stare at him like he's retarded.  
Cats.

xxx

"We're gonna be late!" Frank whined, calling up the stairs.  
"Coming!" Gerard shouts, appearing from his bedroom while pulling on his socks. They do not match.  
Neither do his jeans, which look two sizes two small and are probably Frank's.  
Whatever, super tight jeans that aren't long enough are in fashion or something, right?  
"Okay, ready, let's go," Gerard announces, hands on his hips as he stands at the top of the stairs and catches his breath for a moment, before pushing some red and temprorary-hair-dyed green hair from his eyes and heads down the stairs. Frank thinks the hair looks cool, except for the parts where the green blended with the red instead of covered it and made it brown, but you can't tell unless you're really close. And most of the green streaks are kind of only on one side except for two random strands, but it still looks fine.  
And a bit over-festive.  
And when he told that to Gerard, the older man just facepalmed and ran out of the room, yelling that he forgot something. When he came back he had his elf hat back on, with fairy lights all around it, holding out a matching Santa hat.  
"I'm not wearing that," Frank frowned, eyeing the fairy lights on his hat dubiously.  
Gerard just pouted until Frank rolled his eyes and accepted the hat, plonking it on and heading for the door before Gerard made him wear reindeer mittens.

xxx

The party is in full swing when they get there, due to Gerard taking forever to get ready, and Frank has already adjusted his Santa hat self consciously, like, a billion times. He had taken the fairy lights off in the car, firmly telling Gerard that he wasn't going to wear them, and avoiding Gerard's round eyes.  
Gerard was sulking by the drinks and avoiding him, fairy lights set to the blinking setting, and his head looked like a whole other party in its own.  
Frank rolled his eyes at Gerard's childishness and headed for the drinks, grabbing a beer from the bucket of ice, shivering when some touched his hand.  
"Are you gonna be like this all night? Because I'm only here because of you," Frank frowned, and Gerard shrugged, keeping his eyes on the tab of the beer can he was fiddling with. Gerard had been sober for ages, but last year he decided that it was okay for him to drink casually. But Frank still kept an eye on him.  
"Gerard," Frank said warningly, reaching out to hold the older man's upper arm, shaking it a little.  
Gerard finally looked up, about to say something when they were pushed apart by someone who wanted to get to the drinks, already wasted beyond belief.  
"Comin' throoouuugh!" The girl slurred, grabbing a beer with her back to Frank, and jogging off to the dance floor to go and seduce some guy.  
Frank raised an eyebrow, then turned back to talk to Gerard, but he just looked like he had seem a ghost, the flashing lights on his hat even brighter against his overly pale face.  
"Gerard?" Frank frowned, waving a hand in front of Gerard's eyes, which were still trained on the drunk girl at the dance floor, who was doing this gross thing to the guy's ear now. When the couple turned around to continue dancing, Frank felt like someone doused his internal organs in ice water.  
The girl was LynZ.  
He hurriedly looked back to his friend, who was chugging down his second beer already, grabbing a third, when Frank snatched it out of his hand and dragged him out the front door by his wrist.  
"Gerard, listen to me-"  
"Can we go home now?" Gerard interrupted in a small voice, lips quivering.  
Frank frowned and shook his head, pulling Gerard in for a hug.  
"It's okay. We're gonna go back in there, and have fun, okay? She can't ruin Christmas for you, and you're gonna prove it, okay?" Frank ordered, rubbing Gerard's warm back.  
Gerard just turned his face into the crook of Frank's neck, fisting the shorter man's shirt and whimpering in an attempt to not cry.  
"I wanna go home."  
"No."  
Gerard didn't pull out of the hug, but he did lift his head off Frank's shoulder to look at him with shiny, round eyes, pleadingly.  
"I don't wanna see her with that... That guy. We could just... We could watch movies! And eat food. I just don't want to stay here," Gerard begged, tugging on Frank's shirt.  
"Gerard," Frank sighed, smoothing his hand through Gerard's festive hair (that was kind of stiff from the green hairspray) and circling the other arm around his waist. "You need to get over her, okay? You'll be fine, just ignore her," Frank advised. Gerard nodded, wiping at his face with the heels of his palms before turning to face the door, breathing deeply.  
"Okay. Ignore her. Right," Gerard nodded determinedly, pushing the door open and heading back into the chaos, with Frank following closely after, almost bursting with pride in how strong Gerard was being.  
He found Gerard standing hesitantly by the dance floor, trying to edge his way in and awkwardly swaying around. Frank would laugh at Gerard's awkwardness/pathetic excuse for dancing, but he didn't. Instead, he grabbed Gerard by the hand and pulled right into the dance floor, through the suffocating wall of bodies, until they found a smallish but open space, and squeezed in there together.  
"Frank, I can't dance," Gerard shouted into Frank's ear over the music, panicked, but Frank shrugged and shouted back "I know!"  
He just tried (in vain) to teach Gerard how to not look like a squid out of the water, but then Gerard froze up and pointedly looked over Frank's shoulder. Frank half-turned around when Gerard grabbed him and hissed "Don't look!" So Frank obviously had to look.  
LynZ and whoever that guy was really need to get a room.  
They were just dirty dancing and the guy was sticking his hand down her skirt as if they thought no one would notice. Frank crinkled up his nose. They may or may not have just made him asexual. And they also may or may not be drunk enough to kill themselves from alcohol poisoning.  
Gerard made a pitiful noise behind him, so Frank turned around and grabbed his waist, pulling his friend against him, wincing at what he was about to do.  
"You owe me big time," Frank muttered into Gerard's ear, lips moving against the skin so that he wouldn't have to shout.  
He turned them to the side so that LynZ could see, and started to grind against Gerard, who was just staring at him with those wide eyes of his. Frank pretended to be really enjoying it (okay, maybe he didn't need to pretend that much) to be more convincing.  
Frank knew for a fact that LynZ had noticed Gerard by now, and it was his duty as a friend to make her jealous for Gerard. He slung one of his arms around Gerard's neck like girls did, pulling him closer and keeping the other hand on his hip. They were getting a little hard, BUT IT WAS JUST THE ALCOHOL OKAY. Gerard pushed him away after LynZ glanced over, turning Frank around to do that gross thing that LynZ and that guy were doing with butt humping, except Gerard wasn't trying to drill a hole through Frank. Well... Frank ignored the fact that Gerard had a semi, because he did, too. It was just from the contact, not who it was with.  
"I promise I'll buy you a new guitar for this," Gerard whispered into Frank's ear, giving Frank's waist a grateful squeeze, and Frank grinned.  
"That SG?"  
"The yellow one," Gerard promised, and Frank may have beamed brighter than Gerard's hat, and he could see LynZ glaring at them out of the corner of his eye. Gerard could, too, and he looked a little panicked, and Frank wanted to calm him down.  
The excitement about the guitar, needing to make LynZ jealous, calming down Gerard, and too much alcohol all combined into Frank spinning around and pulling Gerard's mouth down to his by the back of his neck.  
Gerard made a surprised little noise, before he kissed back, and it reminded Frank of when they would kiss on stage. He also remembered how LynZ didn't like it and was in fact very jealous of him, even when her and Gerard were together.  
He stopped musing over all this when Gerard dragged his tongue over his lower lip, nibbling on the warm flesh before parting Frank's lips with his own. Frank shivered at the sensation of Gerard's tongue stroking his own, unconsciously pressing closer for more.  
Frank pulled away to breathe after a moment, and the song ended. People started to leave for drinks or a bathroom break, and Frank accidentally locked eyes with LynZ, who was standing still and gaping at him and Gerard.  
He was panicking on the inside and wanting to freak out and tell everyone that it was an act, guys, he's straight. (Oh, god, he's never getting laid again, Gerard owes him more than a guitar) Instead, he just smirked and turned away, wrapping Gerard's arm around his waist and walking them over to a vacant couch.  
"Have you seen Mikey yet?" Gerard asked, and Frank told him no, he hadn't. They were both pretending that the kiss had never happened. That toe out of the line of their straightness. Frank also pretended that Gerard didn't look very attractive when he was all sweaty and flushed and danced-out.  
Frank frowned when he found himself staring at Gerard's lips as he talked, scolding himself. Gerard frowned when he wished Frank would kiss him again.  
What was wrong with them tonight?  
Eventually, Mikey came over, exclaiming about how he was looking _everywhere_ , and they broke out of their sexual tension to smile and accept the beers he was holding out to them. While Gerard explained to Mikey about how squids release ink, Frank watched LynZ and her boyfriend running out of the club to probably fuck in an alley. His eyes flick over to Gerard, who is also watching. But he doesn't look pained like he did before.  
That's good.  
Very good.  
Frank tells himself that he thought that because he wants Gerard to find a girlfriend, not that he wants to date him himself.

xxx

After they get well and truly pissed off more beers than they can count on one hand and too many shots, Gerard finds himself dragging Frank back to the dance floor after some drinking games that resulted in Gerard wearing a Santa themed mini dress and losing his hat. He pressed himself up against Frank and rutted himself on Frank's thigh, who was reciprocating the action. LynZ and her boyfriend had returned to the party a while ago, looking truly fucked, and Gerard hadn't even noticed because he was busy giving Frank a lapdance.  
Frank frowned when he realized that he was about to come in his favorite skinny jeans, and gently pushed Gerard away.  
"Back at our place?" Gerard asked, reading Frank's mind and biting his lip, tugging self-consciously at the hem of the mini dress, and fluffing out the white fake fur on the bottom.  
"Yeah," Frank breathed, already moving. "Yeah, let's go."

xxx

The next morning, they woke up with worse headaches than they had ever had before, and strange bruises in random places. And Gerard was wearing a slutty Santa dress and was currently lying on top of Frank in their bathtub.  
What.  
Frank frowned and looked down at himself, eyes widening when he was in nothing but... His socks. Shit.  
He blinked for a few seconds, trying hard to remember what happened last night, before it hit him like a ninja brick - out of nowhere, and really hard.  
"Oh fuck."

xxx

It was a fairly awkward Christmas Day for them, where neither of them mentioned the earlier night but it was obvious that they were both thinking about it, if the sudden blushing and staring and shyness was anything to go by.  
Frank discreetly washed his sheets, and Gerard changed out of the minidress as soon as possible.  
Olivia had been sitting on top of the fridge and observing them all day, as if she was too cool to join them on the floor and rub her head against their legs like she usually did. Or just too amused with their predicament.  
They had both avoided each other and done nothing in particular all day, but then the evening came and they had to exchange presents. They always put the present under their Morrissey shrine because they were too lazy to get a tree, and Frank raised his eyebrows when he saw three presents-two normal sized boxes, and one tiny little box that could've held some earrings. He was certain that the small box wasn't there this morning.  
He sat on the couch and stared at the boxes for a while, hands clasped in his lap and back tense for when Gerard would inevitably walk out of his bedroom and join him here.  
After an hour of painful waiting, he decided to man up and see what the holdup was.  
"Gerard?" he called, already going up the stairs. He heard a thud and a crash, meaning that Gerard probably tripped and broke something. As usual.  
"Yeah?" Gerard called through his bedroom door.  
"You okay in there?"  
"Yeah! I'll, uh, be down in a minute."  
"Okay," Frank said awkwardly, shoving his hands in his pockets and going back downstairs to the living room. He wished things would go back to normal and he could barge into Gerard's room instead of having to talk through a door.  
When Gerard finally came downstairs, he was wearing his pajama pants and a huge coat.  
"Isn't that hot to wear indoors?" Frank asked, confused and scrambling for something to talk about.  
"I'm fine," Gerard shrugged, sitting down next to Frank on the couch.  
"So...presents," Frank nodded, eyeing the one that Gerard got for him. He guessed that Gerard had probably gotten the small box for Olivia, it must be a new toy or something.  
"You can open it, you know," Gerard laughed, and just like that, the tension in the room disappeared. Olivia meowed disappointedly, standing up from the fridge and jumping down off of the counter, disinterested again.  
Frank jumped on his present, eyes gleaming, and ripped off the Happy Hannukah wrapping paper.  
"Oh. My. God. No way," Frank flapped his hands around excitedly.  
"You like it?" Gerard grinned, leaning his elbows on his knees.  
" _Yes_ ," Frank squeaked, hugging the pillow pet to his chest before dropping it to the ground so he could hug his roommate.  
"You're welcome," Gerard giggled, and when Frank pulled back, he was fairly sure that Gerard was blushing.  
"Now open mine!" Frank said enthusiastically, thrusting the box into Gerard's lap.  
Gerard carefully peeled off the wrapping paper, being sure not to tear it, before folding it and setting it down next to him, patting Bart Simpson's head with his finger.  
"I like this wrapping paper," he smiled, and Frank sucked in his cheeks, impatiently.  
"OPEN IT ALREADY."  
"Okay, okay," Gerard frowned. He wanted to savor the moment.  
It was a new jacket, since Gerard loved his jackets like they were his children.  
"It's the one you've had your eye on for a while, right?" Frank asked, nervous that it was the wrong one.  
"Yes! How'd you know?!" Gerard squealed, holding it up for him to see.  
"You're not exactly discreet. It was circled in every color from your gel pen set in the catalog," Frank shrugged, playing it off like he hadn't gone through the recycling bin in the snow to see if Gerard had wanted anything from the magazines they had put out.  
"This is... Thank you," Gerard squealed excitedly, flapping his hands around.  
He looked up at Frank hesitantly, biting down hard on his lip, and Frank looked away in an attempt to not give in to the urge and pull his lip away from his teeth with his own and lick it better.  
"Listen," Gerard sighed, setting aside the jacket. "We really need to talk about...y'know."  
"Last night," Frank sighed, nodding, scooting away from Gerard a little.  
"Um... I'm not gonna lie, so....," Gerard trailed off, shaking his head and clamping his lips shut a moment later. Frank wanted to pry them apart with his tongue so badly it hurt, he wasn't even gonna lie to himself about this anymore.  
"I've, um. I dunno, last night wasn't, like, _bad_ or anything," Gerard sighed, sucking on his bottom lip. Frank stared unashamedly.  
"Me neither," he finally said quietly, eyes flickering back up to meet Gerard's, which were looking at him like they never had before. When they were sober, at least.  
"I guess, I kinda...enjoyed it," Gerard shrugged.  
"Me too," Frank whispered, edging closer. Their knees touched.  
"I, um, got you a second present," Gerard admitted, glancing at the tiny box.  
"What? But... I only got you thi-"  
"It's okay!" Gerard cut him off quickly, eyes wide. "I guess it's sorta for me, too. If you like it, that is," he added, uncertainly. Frank wanted to kiss him.  
"Okay?" Frank smiled, reaching for the box, but Gerard quickly slapped his hand away, blushing.  
"That's like... Part two."  
"Part two of what?" Frank said, completely lost.  
Gerard just sat there for a few seconds, before he laughed nervously, running a hand through his hair before he reached down to pull off his pajama bottoms. Frank's eyes bugged out of his head. Gerard's bare, shaven legs softly reflected the lights strung around Morrissey's shrine, and Frank couldn't look away. Gerard's hand slowly reached up to the zipper of the huge coat, and he pulled it down in what was supposed to be a fluid movement, but then it got stuck on- Jesus Christ. The fur on the hem of Gerard's dress.  
"Gerard?" Frank's voice came out hoarse, and he licked his lips slowly, letting his gaze drag up Gerard's smooth legs, his girly hips, the slight swell of his pecs where breasts were supposed to go, the stony composition of his throat and neck, and finally, his nervous face. "Gorgeous," Frank exhaled in a hushed whisper, reaching out before he caught himself and retracted his hand. Gerard blushed, and Frank followed it with his eyes as the pink traveled down the older man's chest and under the dress.  
"You think?" Gerard asked shyly, tugging nervously at the fabric. Frank nodded earnestly, edging closer until their thighs pressed together. He ran a hand over Gerard's far thigh, from the top down to the inside of his knee, pulling it up and hooking it over his lap. Gerard made a small, surprised noise, but quickly settled down on his lap, holding onto his shoulders and looking down between them, shyly. Frank pulled Gerard closer, reveling in how the dress slid up around Gerard's thighs, how their chest pressed together. Maybe he wasn't as straight as he thought. Maybe neither of them were.  
Maybe it didn't matter.

xxx

Frank just sat there for a while, touching and looking, but he didn't kiss Gerard yet. He wanted to savor this before anything happened.  
"Wait," Gerard squeaked, shuffling off Frank's lap to grab the small, unopened box. He crawled back to the couch, and knelt next to it as he held it out to Frank.  
"Actually, it makes more sense if I open it," Gerard frowned, ripping off the wrapping paper and opening the box. Frank peered over the edge of the couch to see inside, heart jumping into his throat when Gerard shyly smiled at him, pulling the mistletoe out and holding it over both their heads.  
"Merry Christmas," Gerard giggled, leaning forward to press their lips together firmly. Frank sighed into his mouth, pulling him closer by a hand on his cheek, the tattooed fingers slipping upwards to tangle in Gerard's hair as the kisses deepened, as he licked into Gerard's mouth, as Gerard crawled back up onto the couch to straddle Frank once again. Frank had been half hard ever since Gerard unzipped that coat of his, and when he felt Gerard pressing against him, he couldn't help but the rub his hips against Gerard's. Gerard gasped, breaking the kiss to duck his head and mouth at Frank's neck, nipping at the skin behind his ear, tracing his tongue around the scorpion tattoo that resided there. Frank arched his back to get more of his neck open, and to get more friction against his cock. Gerard sighed with satisfaction before nosing at Frank's collarbone, running his hands down the front of Frank's shirt until he reached the bottom and could push the hem up Frank's flushed chest. Frank lifted his shoulders and arms off the couch to let Gerard pull off his shirt, before pulling Gerard back down on top of him, running his hands up his thighs, and over his hips, pushing up the dress until it rested around Gerard's waist. Frank groaned and squeezed his eyes shut when he realized that Gerard wasn't wearing any underwear.  
"You-" he gasped, cutting himself off and deciding to kiss Gerard instead. Gerard responded quite happily, leaning up and wrapping his arms around Frank's neck.  
"I really do not like this dress. I'm self conscious, okay," Gerard mumbled, totally ruining his whole sudectress image he had going on.  
"Then take it off," Frank sighed, pulling apart to rest his forehead against his self conscious roommate's.  
"That's not-" Gerard started, squirming uncomfortably, but Frank interrupted him with a carefully aimed upwards thrust. "Okay," Gerard groaned, pressing his face into the side of Frank's neck. "Never mind. Okay, take it off, right. Take it off," he panted, rutting uncontrollably against Frank.  
Frank smiled and pulled him down for another kiss.  
"We can turn off the lights if it makes you feel any better," he said sweetly, running his fingers through Gerard's tangled red hair, and Gerard nodded, blushing at the affection.  
How could he even be shy when he's wearing a slutty Santa costume and being a total hottie.  
Frank giggled and tugged Gerard's dress up, shaking his head in wonderment.  
He really loved this guy.

xxx

"Frankie," Gerard groaned, pushing his ass back into Frank's mouth, sweaty cheek pressed against the pillow. Frank grunted and lapped at Gerard's relaxing hole, gently prodding it with his tongue before tracing over the rim. He had no clue what he was doing, but he must've been doing okay, if the needy sounds that Gerard was making was anything to go by. Frank squeezed Gerard's smooth ass cheeks, spreading them apart a little more as he trailed his mouth away from the puckered hole and bit gentle love bites onto each rounded cheek, trailing his kisses down Gerard's thigh, flipping him over and locking eyes with him. Gerard whimpered and squirmed under Frank's scanning eyes, desperate to cover himself, but then Frank slowly wrapped his fingers around his achingly hard cock, and he groaned obscenely.  
"Fuck... Frank, fuck me," Gerard begged, scratching his stubby nails down Frank's chest, and Frank shook his head.  
"Not yet," he said in hushed tones, trailing his curious fingertips across Gerard's smooth hip, curving their path dangerously close to his asshole again.  
"I gotta do this right."  
"Right?!" Gerard squawked indignantly. "I'm not a girl!"  
"Yeah," Frank smiled, leaning down to brush their lips together. "Yeah, you're so much more."  
Gerard looked up at him with his wide, innocent eyes, cheeks flushed and a pleased smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.  
"I wanna do this right," Frank explained. "With you."  
"Thanks," Gerard choked out, the roof of his mouth extremely dry.  
"Now flip over again."  
Gerard obeyed with an expectant and adorably excited squeak, getting up on his knees and elbows, and Frank leaned down to continue eating Gerard out.  
He massaged the smooth flesh of his ass, certain that they would always fascinate him with their perfection (besides that birthmark on Gerard's left buttcheek that he probably doesn't know about) After Gerard made an impatient, whiny noise, he spread them apart, licking a stripe onto the skin between Gerard's balls and asshole. Gerard's thighs trembled when Frank slid down a bit on the bed to take one of his balls into his mouth, sucking gently.  
"Frankie," Gerard gasped, hanging his head between his shoulders as if he couldn't handle its weight anymore.  
Frank just went back up to the small, shiny hole and made a humming noise against it, letting the vibrations carry up Gerard's body before he shifted his hands that were spreading his friend apart so that his thumbs were applying a little more pressure ; holding him open. Frank looked at the slightly parted opening, remembering where that thing had been, but then Gerard made a begging noise that sounded almost like a sob, and he decided to just deal with it, as long as Gerard was happy. He prodded around the hole a bit, circling the tip of his tongue over the stiff ring of muscle, before he used more force with his thumbs to hold him open again, and his tongue slipped inside, tasting that god awful stuff, but he ignores it, because the sounds that Gerard was making were going straight south. He licked deeper into the older man, until his lips were fitted around the hole, and he was going at it for all he was worth, lapping over the hole to relax it before diving in again, fucking the squirming red head with his tongue. Frank's saliva glistened in Gerard's crack when Frank pulled back to breathe, and he licked it off before sucking over the spot as if to leave a hickey or something, going over the sensitive skin with his teeth.  
"Frank," Gerard panted, chest heaving with the effort of holding out, and keeping himself upright. "Please," he begged, even though neither of them knew what he was pleading for.  
"Mmm," Frank hummed in reply, blowing a puff of warm air over the spit slicked skin and enjoying the feeling of goosebumps rising over Gerard's ass cheeks as a reaction.  
He noticed Gerard's flushed cock, glistening and dripping with an almost constant dribble of precome, going purplish at the head with need for release. He let his eyes close again, reaching down to squeeze his own erection, trying to keep it in control, because he didn't want this to be over just yet.  
"Please," Gerard moaned. "Touch me, _please_."  
Frank nuzzled his nose into the damp crease right above Gerard's thigh, dragging one of his fingertips over Gerard's asshole before he pulled back and ran the length of his finger over the tip of Gerard's leaking cock, getting it liberally slicked over from the precome, before pushing the finger into Gerard.  
"No," Gerard gasped, shaking his head. "Tongue."  
Frank quickly pulled his finger out, feeling something pool in his stomach as he went back to rimming Gerard, despite his mouth being sore by now.  
"C'mon, I can't take this any longer," Frank panted before shoving his tongue as far in as it would go, wriggling it around in a way that made Gerard cry out his name loudly enough to be heard by their crazy neighbors with the picket fence.  
"Let me fuck you," Frank begged, and Gerard nodded, scooting away from Frank's mouth, and flipping over when Frank tried to follow.  
"Fuck me."  
Frank nodded fervently, grabbing the backs of Gerard smooth thighs and pushing then up against Gerard's chest, nudging them apart so that he could lie between them.  
"This is how it works, right?" he asked uncertainly, and Gerard shrugged. He had completely forgotten up until now that neither of them had been with men before. He nodded, crawling up Gerard's body until his dick was face to face with Gerard's red lips, which eagerly wrapped themselves around it. Frank resisted the urge to thrust down and just ride Gerard's pretty little face into the sunset, and pulled back when he decided that he had enough spit on his dick to work. He slid back down and lined himself up with Gerard, who was shaking with nerves.  
"You okay?" Frank asked breathily, turning his face to kiss the inside of Gerard's thigh that was right next to his head, and pushing in right after he saw Gerard nod. After a minute of painful sitting there and waiting for Gerard to adjust, Gerard finally nodded, rolling his hips against Frank's, pulling him down for a kiss.  
"Move, move," he whispered into Frank's mouth. Frank just nodded and sped up his rhythm, leaning down to suck a hickey onto Gerard's neck. The room was filled with the sounds of skin slapping against skin, Frank's strained moans, and Gerard's breathy gasps every time Frank went in deep enough. Frank pushed Gerard's thighs up closer to his chest so that he could lean down and kiss Gerard, who made a high, keening noise when Frank twisted his hips at just the right angle, and his dick nudged at just the right space to make his vision blur. Frank was going slow, dragging everything out until Gerard almost couldn't take it, he would just slowly push in, making Gerard feel every single fraction of him as he slid deeper and deeper, filling him to his spilling point with no chance of not registering it, since he would pause for a nanosecond before pulling back out again, and Gerard would feel the drag against every fucking nerve he had.  
Frank felt his sweaty hair fall into his eyes, and his back muscles were cramping from holding himself up and also taking the weight of Gerard, who had wrapped his legs around Frank's waist in order to pull him in deeper, ankles hooked at the small of his back, toes curling and pressing at the stretch of skin right above his ass.  
"Frank," Gerard gasped, back arching off the mattress as Frank licked the sweat off his collarbones, thrusting in maddeningly slowly, pulling out a bit faster than before, the only sign that he was getting close.  
Gerard was so wired; he felt small sparks going off at the base of his spine constantly, sped on by Frank rubbing up against his prostate before pulling back and doing it over again before Gerard could refocus himself on his self control. He was so undone, lying there between Frank's arms in either side of his head, the sweat shining on his chest as he hovered over Gerard, abdominal muscles flexing and hip tattoos rippling with every thrust. Gerard squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold out a little longer, rolling his hips back to meet Frank with each movement, just needing more, to be closer, even though there was no closer.  
"Gerard," Frank replied, arms physically shaking with the strain of holding himself up, eyes blurred with the strain of seeing Gerard like this, face screwed up in this really relaxed way, red hair spreading out underneath him all over the pillow, sweat shining on his cheekbones, eyes fluttering closed. He almost couldn't handle the feeling of Gerard clenching and unclenching around him, the feel of his ass muscles rippling in a way that encouraged Frank to come. Frank could practically _feel_ every one of Gerard's moans, which were getting louder and louder the closer he became, and he couldn't help cradling Gerard in his arms and leaning their foreheads together, thrusting back in all the way and rolling his hips against Gerard's, who cried out in a way that should be illegal, and then Gerard's thighs were tightening around his waist uncomfortably, and his fingertips were digging into Frank's shoulders, and he titled his chin up a fraction of an inch to connect their mouths as he groaned into the kiss. Frank kept going to help Gerard through his orgasm, getting everything he could out of it, and white lights popped behind his eyes when Gerard started clenching around him strategically, making it extremely hard for Frank to keep the pace at lovemaking and not fuck Gerard's brains out, but he needed to do it this way, at least the first time. Gerard was important, and he needed to show him that. He let his eye open again to look at Gerard, who was whispering encouragements to him softly, pressing their foreheads together and wrapping his limbs around Frank's aching body.  
"Come on, Frankie, come on," he said in this hushed bedroomy voice that had Frank squeezing his eyes shut and trying to memorize it before it was completely lost, but it was in vain, since a few moments later, he was crying out and pulling Gerard closer to him, burying his face in Gerard's sweaty hair, body convulsing with every wave of his orgasm.  
"Fuck," he panted, after he had collected himself enough to string the letters together to make an actual word.  
"Mmhm," Gerard hummed in agreement, before he nudged Frank's shoulder with his pointy nose, still slightly out if breath, and Frank nodded, slowly pulling out of Gerard so he wouldn't hurt him, since this sort of was Gerard's first time bottoming, or being with a man in general. Despite his efforts of being gentle, Gerard still winced a little, but he seemed fine apart from that, and just silently watched Frank tie off the condom and throw it into the trash can before climbing back into bed with Gerard, wiped out.  
Frank was the fall-alseep-right-after kind of guy, and that is exactly what he did, but Gerard wasn't, so he just stayed up for another hour, simply watching Frank's chest rise and fall with his breaths, tracing every comfortingly familiar tattoo with his fingertips, before he finally fell under the calming spell of Frank's even breathing and curled up into Frank's side, allowing himself to drift off in a blissfully sore way that he hadn't been in a very long time.

xxx

The next morning, Gerard woke up to an empty bed and the stiff strands of hair on the right side of his head from his drool digging into his cheek. And a dull ache in his ass.  
He smiled and nuzzled into the pillow, remembering why he had a dull ache in his ass, when he gave a start and sat up with a sudden, jerky movement when he realized that his bed _was empty_.  
"Frank?" he called out tentatively, and he almost scared himself with how rough and scratchy his voice was. He felt a little sick when he didn't get a response, and his mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario, where Frank changed his mind, where it was LynZ all over again, where he wasn't good enough for anything long term or serious or even real.  
Gerard sat there, in the mess of crackly sheets and quilts and pillows for the longest time, before he finally grabbed Frank's Christmas pillow pet and buried his face in it, hugging it tightly and doubling over so that it was sat in his lap. He felt a burn behind his eyes when he realized that his best friend had taken advantage of him, when his brain caught up with his heart and was all like 'woah woah woah. Slow the fuck down.' And made him really remember how Frank always cleaned up his drool without conplaint, how he had held him together when LynZ dumped him, how he would stay up and cuddle with him when he used to have nightmares, when he would take care of him when he was sick. Then, he thought about last night, how Frank held him close to him, how their fingers were linked together on the pillow next to his head, how gentle and soft it all had been, how Frank had taken such good care of him, how he had stressed wanting to do it right, how their foreheads were pressed together, when their eyes had locked and there had been that electricity that had sort of always been there, but they never really recognized it well enough to realize that they weren't exactly straight. That thought made Gerard lift his face away from the pillow pet, eyes wide.  
Holy shit, he wasn't straight. That was...wow. Huh. He wasn't straight.  
That thought led him to thinking about LynZ, and he felt sad again, he always did when he thought about her. He was surprised, actually, that he still hurt from it even after he truly discovered Frank, even after last night, but it made sense.  
He could love Frank like hell right now, and hopefully for longer than just 'right now', but he would never forget how he loved LynZ like hell all those years ago. He was a little pleased with himself when he realized that he didn't love her anymore, wow, when did that happen? He must not have noticed it, but for sure, he hadn't been a upset that night at the party as he was last year, when he would as much as hear the name "Lindsey". He wondered how he could've been so oblivious to falling out of love with her, but then again, he was just as oblivious to falling in love with Frank.  
Speaking of Frank...  
"Frank?" he tried again, sitting up on his knees to look around the room. No reply.  
He sighed and shoved off the covers, shivering at the cold air and rushing over to the closet to grab some of Frank's clothes, because it was _freezing_. After he had bundled up in sweatpants and two sweaters and all of the clean sheets, he ventured out into the hall and down the stairs, keeping his eyes peeled for his roommate and pretending he was Jackie Chan and that he was all stealthy and didn't look like a couch. Which he did,  
He finally stumbled into the kitchen, blinking at the bright lights before his vision cleared and he spotted Frank, who was making omelets and smiling up at him, and he tried to walk over, but his foot caught on the edge of one of the sheets, and he tripped over with an undignified squawk. He expected to expect to fall but then Frank would catch him and it would be romantic as fuck, but instead... Yeah, he just fell.  
"Ow," he frowned, looking up at Frank as if to ask why the _heck_ did he not catch him? And saw Frank laughing at him. "Stop laughing!" Gerard ordered, crossing his arms indignantly, which only made Frank laugh harder, even though he tried to muffle it behind his hand, pressing his fingers against his lips all dainty and cute and not catching his kind of maybe probably not sort of ugh it's never gonna happen stop with your wishful thinking, brain, boyfriend.  
Gerard blinked rapidly, bewildered at his own train of thoughts, but Frank took that as if he was about to cry, and stopped laughing immediately to crouch down and hold him.  
"Sorry, sorry, it's just... You looked all cute and it was just funny- Gerard, come on!" he pouted when Gerard tried to move away, hugging him tighter and burying his face in Gerard's hair.  
"Whatever," Gerard huffed, flicking hair out of his eyes and realizing with a sinking stomach that Jackie Chan wouldn't have tripped over his sheet cape.  
"Mm, all better?" Frank asked with a smile in his voice, kissing Gerard's forehead before frowning at his hair. "You need to re-dye your hair. It looks all gross."  
"Thanks," Gerard grouched sarcastically, already shuffling closer to steal some of Frank's warmth-seriously, was the heater broken or something? "I was thinking black."  
"Ooh, that's a new one," Frank rolled his eyes. "How 'bout blue?"  
"No."  
"Purple."  
Gerard considered it, and shrugged.  
"Pink?"  
Gerard shot him a scandalized look. "Frank! That would clash horribly with my skin tone, and you know it!"  
"Naw, you'd make any color look good, clashing skin tones or not," Frank said cheerfully, leaning down to kiss him softly before he stood up, offering Gerard a hand up. Gerard just sat there and stared at him, overjoyed that it was apparently, _not_ , a one-time thing, before he gathered his wits about him and accepted Frank's outstretched hand.  
"So, omelets?" he asked, peering into the pan at the burnt eggs glued to the bottom.  
"You distracted me!" Frank said indignantly, hands on his hips, before he picked up the pan and scraped the burnt omelet off with a spatula into the sink.  
"Well, get used to it, because that's gonna happen a lot," Gerard warned him.  
"Cereal it is, then," Frank sighed, setting the pan in the sink and turning to get out the bowls and spoons while Gerard grabbed the milk and cereal, and Gerard told him that cereal was fine, he didn't need to go out of his way like that, and Frank just shrugged and said that he wanted to.

xxx

Frank still needed to get over Jamia, though, and Gerard respected that. He really did, it was just that he got a little iddy biddy bit jealous whenever he saw Frank sadly scroll through some of their text conversations. He didn't really have to deal with jealousy much in his other relationships, since it tended to be the other way around, but this time was different. He would sometimes ignore it and brightly ask Frank what he wanted for dinner, sometimes he's go off and sulk with Olivia curled up in his lap, and other times he'd grab Frank and just make out with him. He liked it when he did that, because that usually led to getting laid. Or giving a blowjob. Or Frank's miraculous tongue in his ass.  
But he still wished that they would actually talk about that thing they had. Like, were they going out? Were they still just friends? What was going on?  
All he understood about their situation was that Frank was still not over Jamia, him and Frank were just friends that kissed a lot and occasionally got off together, and all this not knowing was making his heart hurt.  
"Frank?" he asked, looking up from his magazine to see Frank strumming at his guitar, just the horrendously basic E and G chords.  
It still sounded nice, though.  
"Hmm?" Frank asked, looking up from the worn down fretboard to smile at Gerard.  
"Nothing," he mumbled, chickening out. He was planning on asking what they were, exactly, but he couldn't do it. He didn't want to hear the inevitable when Frank would just frown and laugh at him after a moment and say, "Nothing, Gerard, we're.. We're nothing."  
He wouldn't be able to take that.  
Or if Frank would sigh and say that he wasn't ready for a new relationship so soon after Jamia. Which was understandable, but HELLO he could've said that before he kissed Gerard,  
"No," Frank whined. "I hate it when you do that! You can't just start to say something and then be all like 'nevermind, it's nothing important.'" Frank made his voice all high pitched and nasal at the end.  
"I don't sound like that," Gerard frowned.  
"Whatever," Frank said dismissively, flicking hair out of his eyes as he leaned forwards and rested his elbows on his knees, bent over his guitar.  
"Okay, I was just wondering...," Gerard sighed, feeling his heartbeat speed up an his stomach tremble. "Nothing," he mumbled, recoiling into the couch cushions and curling into a ball.  
"Gerard, I swear, I will kill you."

xxx

It was New Year's Eve, and they still hadn't talked about it. Gerard was going insane. He was tucking in his only button up shirt and fixing his hair, which he had simply re-dyed red instead of going with some other color, bouncing on his toes.  
"Gee, you ready?" Frank asked, peeking his head into Gerard's room. Gerard glanced away from the mirror to look at him, frowning.  
"This shirt is too tight," he said, holding out his arms to show how the sleeves ended a couple inches above his wrists, and Frank sighed, sliding into the room and leaning against the wall, thinking.  
"None of mine would fit you... You don't have to wear a button up, y'know."  
"I can't wear a t-shirt to a party!" Gerard said indignantly. He had _class_.  
"Wear your leather jacket over it, you'll be fine," Frank suggested. Gerard thought over it before nodding in defeat. "Great," Frank smiled, eyes lighting up as he walked over and started undoing the buttons. Gerard just stared at him. Frank looked up and noticed Gerard gaping at him, then rolled his eyes and sighed.  
"Okay, wow. I try and be sexy and this is what I get?"  
"What?!" Gerard said, totally lost. "No! I mean, um, you're... I mean... Y'know, yeah, it's just that you don't have to... Y'know what I'm saying?" he spluttered.  
Frank looked confused, so he paused to take a deep breath, trying to rearrange his thoughts. "You don't have to try. And it's not like you aren't right now, either, it's just, I wasn't expecting it," he explained. Frank nodded with a shrug and went back to unbuttoning the shirt until it was open, and he pushed it off Gerard's shoulders, trailing his fingertips over the delicate skin over his collarbones, leaning in to kiss the skin there, flushed and thin, and he could feel Gerard's heartbeat pick up.  
Gerard shivered when Frank pulled away, only to stretch up and kiss his mouth, softly sucking on his lower lip as he wound his arms around Gerard's neck, and Gerard braced his hands on Frank's hips, before they pulled apart, smiling dazedly at each other.  
After a few seconds, Frank closed his eyes again and stepped back, opening them to watch Gerard's back muscles as he rooted around in his chest of drawers for a t-shirt worthy for the party. He made a triumphant noise when he finally came up with a faded Madonna shirt, waving it over his head in victory before he pulled it on, getting his head stuck in the hole on the way.  
"Did you see my jacket anywhere?" Gerard asked, looking around on the floor for the shiny black leather.  
"It was on the back of the couch," Frank said absentmindedly, tucking his thumbs through Gerard's belt loops an pulling him in for another kiss before gently pushing him away to get his jacket. "Now c'mon, we're gonna be late."  
Gerard nodded and jogged down the stairs to get his jacket off the couch.

xxx

The party was just getting started when they got there, and there was still plenty of party poppers and noisemakers in the basket for them to grab one. Gerard had gone off to chat with Ray, and Frank had went around an just caught up with everyone there for a few hours, before he spotted Bob, so he sort of had to climb him.  
"Bob, HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!" he shouted into the drummer's ear, and Bob just shook him off like he was constantly expecting Frank to come out of nowhere and jump on him. Which he probably was.  
"Hey, Frank," Bob smiled down at him, ruffling his hair a bit. "How're you and...Jamia, right? Yeah, how are you and Jamia doing?"  
"Uh, we, uh, broke up," Frank said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.  
"Aw, that's too bad," Bob said, not really sounding sorry at all, before he launched into a story of this crazy bassist for a band that he was doing sound for.  
"Bob, you know that you're not suppose to sleep with band members that you work for!" Frank scolded him, and Bob rolled his eyes and kept going on about how she was _great_ , man, oh my _god_.  
After Frank and Bob split up to get drinks and go to the bathroom, respectively, Frank ran into Gerard at the punch bowl.  
"Hey," he smiled as he ladled some punch into his cup, and Gerard squeezed his waist.  
"Hey."  
"You having a good time?" he asked, sipping from his cup and watching Gerard pour some out for himself.  
"Yep. What time is it?" Gerard asked, and Frank checked his watch.  
"11:42. New Year's in twenty minutes."  
"Eighteen," Gerard corrected him, making Frank roll his eyes. They just chatted quietly by the bowl for a few minutes before Frank spotted Brian, and excused himself to go say hi. And climb him.  
"So, working on anything new?" Brian asked, leaning forwards in order to hear Frank's reply.  
"Yeah! It's turning out pretty good, I was actually thinking of sensing you some of the demos to tell me what you think!" Frank said brightly, gesturing wildly with his hand, sloshing punch over the side.  
"Dude, that's be great! I know it must be good, though, you're a great musician. Seriously, though. The band I'm managing right now is horrific!" Brian groaned, looking like he regretted ever mentioning them.  
"Aw, thanks! But it's not all me, Gerard always has plenty to say if he doesn't like something," Frank snorted, rolling his eyes.  
"Uh, yeah, speaking of Gerard... There was this picture. Um. Of you two at Pete's Christmas party. Making out or something equally scarring," Brian winced.  
"What? Seriously? Did people see it?" Frank asked worriedly, looking around for the red head.  
"Not really, it got taken down pretty fast, but... Are you two... A thing?" Brian asked cautiously, worried about overstepping a mark.  
"I... I guess," Frank smiled with a sigh, watching Gerard giggle at something Ryan said fondly.  
"Oh, man," Brian shook his head, slightly sickened by the dopey, syrupy sweet smile on Frank's face. "You're whipped. Aren't you."  
It wasn't a question.  
Frank nodded anyways.

xxx

It was five minutes to countdown, and Gerard was nowhere to be seen. Frank knew it was kind of stupid and Gerard probably wouldn't appreciate it, but he had wanted to kiss him when the ball dropped. Everyone was going to gather around the screen in two minutes to watch, so he had tried to meet up with Gerard so they could be there together.  
Together. He was so stupid.  
Still, he weaved his way through the crowd of fellow rockstars/friends and just as many normal people/friends, searching for his kind of maybe boyfriend. He was a little terrified to ask Gerard, because he didn't want to be humiliated, and also because he was a little scared that it was too fast. He wanted to wait a while, so that he wouldn't accidentally somehow manage to make Gerard his rebound. It was a ridiculous thought, but he had bad enough luck that it could happen. And the thing was, he still cared about her. Falling in love with someone else didn't change what they had at one point in the past, and though he hadn't quite moved on from their relationship, he had moved on from her.  
But there was that little ache in his chest that constantly reminded him about how it felt, the excitement of thinking, "wow, I'm gonna be a father."  
Obviously, he knew that he wasn't now, and he was also aware that Jamia would've dumped him before the kid was born to avoid anything superbly messy from happening, and he also knew that he wouldn't ever want to fill the kid shaped hole in his heart with _Jamia_ , but he wouldn't mind if it was with Gerard.  
Oh, Jesus Christ, there he was again. Stupid.  
He tripped over his shoelace and accidentally jostled Bert's arm, spilling his drink a little.  
"Oh, shit, sorry!" Frank apologized, flapping his hands around in an attempt to.... He didn't really know.  
"No problemo," Bert giggled, and he almost sounded high, but no, he had been sober for years now. Huh. He must always sound like that. "If you're looking for your future husband, he's in the kitchen, by the way. I was gonna look for you, actually, 'cause I used to be his fake boyfriend and all, but now he has you, so you might wanna get your ass in there. Gabe's harassing him," Bert frowned.  
"What?!" Frank spluttered, confused.  
"Kitchen, save you little damsel in distress from sexual harassment?" Bert said slowly, raising his eyebrows like he was reminding him of something.  
"What? Oh! Kitchen! Thanks, man!" Frank smiled, shooting off in the direction of the kitchen, and upon entering it, found Gerard nervously backing away from a wasted Gabe, who was trying to lick him or something.  
"Um, Gabe... Dude, please stop," Gerard mumbled, keeping his hands on Gabe's shoulder's to keep him away.  
"Aw, c'mon," Gabe smiled winningly (or so he thought. He kind of looked like he was about to cry in real life) and leaned forwards, puckering his lips and stumbling forwards, the badly aimed kiss landing on Gerard's cheek.  
Frank wanted to laugh, but he was also feeling kind of jealous right now, so he just stood there.  
"Gabe, you are drunk, you will regret this-"  
"Are you here with someone? Aw, you must be, pretty girl like you," Gabe pouted, leaning away.  
Gerard looked confused for a moment, then burst into a fit of giggles.  
"Gabe, how drunk _are_ you? I'm a dude! Gerard!"  
"Gerard?" Gabe frowned. "Oh, ew, Gerard!"  
Frank couldn't hold back his laughter this time, and both Gerard and Gabe jumped, turning to look at him.  
"Frankie!" Gabe called happily, at the same time that Gerard paled and pushed Gabe off of him.  
"Frank, this isn't-"  
"I know, I saw," Frank chuckled, leaning forward to grab his hand. "Countdown in one minute, guys," he added. Gabe squealed and rocketed off to the living room to watch the tv with everyone.  
"So, you came with someone, pretty boy like you?" Frank asked, turning to Gerard, who blushed and smiled at him. Frank stepped closer, slipping his hands into Gerard's back pockets, squeezing a little. Gerard sighed and leaned into Frank a little, his lips falling into his hair.  
"C'mon, we're gonna miss-" Frank started, but then people started chanting "TEN! NINE! EIGHT!" from the living room, and Frank stopped talking to smile up at Gerard, dragging his hands up Gerard's back to wrap around his neck. Gerard winded his fingers in the collar of Frank's button up, wrinkling the fabric. Frank didn't care.  
"FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO!"  
Gerard reached up and twisted his fingers in Frank's hair, and Frank pulled him down for a kiss.  
He vaguely heard cheering in the other room, but he didn't really register it, all he could hear was the rushing of blood in his ears, and his heartbeat ricocheting off of Gerard's through their shirts and skin, and Gerard quiet little gasps around his tongue.  
Frank leaned even closer, tightening his arms around Gerard's neck and leaning up on his tiptoes so he could get a better angle and be taller than Gerard, because Gerard was melting into him, and it was easier to take it when the person melting into you was shorter.  
"Gerard," Frank sighed against Gerard's soft lips, pulling back a centimeter for breath and to tilt his head a different way before their noses slid against each other more comfortably, and Frank could run his tongue on the inside of Gerard's teeth. Gerard sort of moaned soundlessly against Frank's mouth, and Frank echoed it back, feet cramping, so he had to settle back on his heels.  
When they finally broke apart, Frank's hair was a mess and Gerard's mouth was red.  
Frank grinned at him, taking both of his hands. "Happy New Year."  
"Happy New Year," Gerard repeated, smiling happily and leaning forward again.

xxx

"So." Bert said, sitting down on the couch next to Frank and Gerard. It wasn't a question, or even like he was leading on to something. Just a statement. Frank knew exactly what it meant.  
"Hey," Gerard smiled, and Bert nodded back, bumping their fists together.  
"So, it's your first New Year's as boyfriends!" Bert said enthusiastically, and both Gerard and Frank spluttered. "Oh," Bert's face fell. "So you guys...aren't? I just thought...because of the Christmas party..."  
"Um, no!" Frank said. "Uh, yeah, we're like....yeah."  
Gerard and Frank didn't look at each other.  
"So, it's like... You're together, but you've never said it out loud yet?" Bert tried.  
Frank nodded because Gerard wasn't looking, and Gerard nodded, too, because Frank wasn't looking. But then they looked at each other and smiled.  
"Oh, that's adorable. And disgusting, I'm gonna go now before I start getting urges to give someone a footrub," Bert smirked, getting up and walking away. He just made them official, his work here was done.

xxx

The car ride back home was quiet, but comfortably so.  
"Boyfriend," Gerard smiled, breaking the silence.  
"What?" Frank asked, amused.  
"Nothing," Gerard blushed. "Just trying it out."  
Frank took his hand and squeezed gently, smiling to himself.  
"I'm kind of in love with you," he admitted softly, laughing to cover his nerves.  
"I'm kind of in love with you too."

xxx

Once they stepped inside and the door closed behind them, Frank had Gerard pinned against it, and he was sucking a mark onto his neck before they even kissed.  
"Mine?" he panted against Gerard's skin, and it would have sounded madly possessive if it hadn't come out like a question, like some sort of uncertain puppy.  
"Yours," Gerard nodded in confirmation. Frank wasted no time in shrugging off his jacket, before he unzipped Gerard's and pushed it off his shoulders. Gerard shimmied it over his arms, letting it drop to the floor as he walked both of them to the couch, which was closer than the bedrooms, and they really were not fit to dealing with anything long distance at the moment.  
Frank giggled and pushed Gerard backwards onto the couch, falling forwards on top of him a moment later. Gerard made a wheezy noise at Frank's sudden weight on his stomach, but then he wriggled around until he was comfortable, reaching up to wrap his arms around Frank's shoulders, pulling him down for another kiss. Frank sighed into the wet heat of Gerard's mouth, truly appreciating the smoothness of the inside of his cheeks before he fumbled between them to tug Gerard's shirt over his head.  
Gerard gave a self conscious squeak when Frank tried to look, and he pulled Frank back down to cover himself, kissing again.  
Gerard tried to roll them over, but it was awkward and they both fell off the couch.  
"Okay, ow, bedroom, yeah," Frank panted, standing up and holding a hand out for Gerard, who grabbed it and pulled him back down, between his knees, and grabbed his hips, pulling their crotches together with a groan. All thoughts of "we should probably get to a bed" flew completely out of Frank's head at that point, and all he could think about was the feeling of Gerard grinding up against him, and _oh_ he was undoing his jeans now.  
When Gerard finally managed to pull Frank's jeans and boxers down to his thighs, he flipped them over (and banged his elbow on the coffee table) and grabbed Frank's dick, pumping eagerly a he slid down Frank's body. Frank groaned deep in his throat and threw his head back, balancing his weight on his elbows and forearms as he finally reopened his eyes to watch Gerard.  
Gerard eyed Frank hungrily, before he gave in and leaned down, licking the drips of precome that had leaked over the sides of Frank's cock, with a pleased sound, before looking back up worriedly.  
"Just, uh, tell me if I do anything bad, I've never, um, given a-"  
"Oh my god, Gerard, please," Frank grunted, letting his back hit the floor when his elbows slipped, throwing a hand over his eyes.  
"Okay, okay," Gerard mumbled, before he eyed Frank's dick, recalling what girls would do to him, and then he leaned down again and sucked the head into his mouth, trying out the taste. It was musky and heavy on his tongue, and he decided that it was sort of good when you got used to it. When he pulled back, he anxiously glanced at Frank to see if he was doing okay or not. Frank was lying still, a hand still over his eyes, chest rising and falling with his heavy breathing. He couldn't tell.  
Gerard shook his head and took it back in his mouth, bobbing his head up and down, trying to keep his teeth away, and every tiny moan that Frank would let out encouraged him more, until he finally swallowed down around Frank, who cried out loudly, and then Frank shoved his hands in Gerard's hair, bucking up into Gerard's mouth, and Gerard was just taking it..  
Frank could barely handle it when Gerard pulled off and licked up the sensitive underside of his dick, before he went back up to tongue at his slit, sucking the precome off with obscene slurping sounds.  
"Gerard, fuck.... Oh my god, your _mouth_ ," Frank said breathily, trying not to come. Gerard just hummed around him, and each and every vibration went through his entire body, made his toes curl in his socks. Gerard's mouth was tight and hot and wet, and his tongue was eagerly running up the sides, exploring the new tastes and swallowing down again, going as far as he could until his nose was nuzzling into Frank's pubes.  
Frank pulled him off, panting, and then sat up, pushing at Gerard's shoulders until he laid down, and he rested his hands on Gerard's soft waist, trailing then down to undo his jeans and pull them off.  
"Fucking...," Frank gasped, lungs aching, "Fucking love you."  
Gerard blushed and made a pleased sound in the back of his throat, cupping the back of Frank's neck in his hand and reeling him back in to crush their lips together again, and Frank let out a muffled sigh, and he could do this and nothing else for the rest of his life, just kissing, but he kind of still had a borderline painful boner, and so did Gerard, so he broke them apart to crawl down again and return the favor.

xxx

"Frank, wait, I have an idea, I wanna...fuck! I wanna try something," Gerard's voice came out muffled by the couch cushion that he had his face stuffed into, and Frank stilled his movements, just resting inside Gerard with his balls against his ass, even though his entire body was screaming at him to keep moving.  
"Yeah?" Frank breathed, brushing a hand through Gerard's hair. "You okay?"  
"Yeah," Gerard said, lifting his face away from the pillow to turn his head and smile at Frank, blissed out. "Just wanna try something," he nodded, nudging Frank, who took the hint and pulled out, so that Gerard could get up off his forearms and knees and turn around to face Frank. "Lie down," he ordered, and Frank obeyed, confused but too turned on to care much.  
"What are you…," he started, but then Gerard straddled his lap, positioning himself over Frank's hard on. "Oh. _Oh_."  
Gerard smirked at Frank, who had his eyes shut and his face screwed up as Gerard lowered himself onto him.  
"Okay," Gerard mumbled to himself, giving himself a moment to readjust before he started to move again, bouncing in Frank's lap, who thrusted upwards to meet him almost each time.  
The air around them almost crackled with electricity, and Gerard could feel every inch of Frank inside him, filling him like he'd never really felt before, and Frank couldn't even think, because Gerard was just clenched around him and he felt like crawling out of his own skin, because he couldn't handled it.  
Gerard's jaw was clenched tightly, and he kept letting out these adorably determined huffs through his nose, hands on Frank's shoulders to keep his balance as he rocked in Frank's lap.  
Frank scooted up on the couch so he could sit up with his back against the armrest, and lean forward to mouth at Gerard's neck, tasting the salty sweat on his skin. Gerard's head rolled on his shoulders, leaning back to give Frank more room. Gerard closed his eyes and savored the feeling of Frank pulling his sensitive skin between his teeth and running his tongue over it, sucking until it left a mark.  
"Frank, how am I gonna _hide_ that?" Gerard asked, not really objecting.  
"You won't," Frank smiled against Gerard's skin, pushing Gerard over so he could thrust into him again, movement speeding up.  
"I can't go outside like this," Gerard giggled, sweaty hair falling into his face.  
"Stay here with me," Frank smiled.  
"Oh, god, shut up and fuck me," Gerard laughed, and Frank obeyed.  
This wasn't slow or sweet or anything like their first time, but it was just as raw.  
"I love you," Frank muttered, movements speeding up as he thrusted in and out of Gerard frantically, before he felt everything tighten up, something hot drawing up in his stomach before it released in a wave of heat, and he came with a silent shout, muffling it in Gerard's shoulder.  
He felt his orgasm hit him in pulses, and Gerard helped him through it by clenching his muscles around him, rolling his hips and dragging his fingernails down Frank's back.  
Once he came down from the high, he pulled out and wrapping his hands around Gerard's leaking erection, jacking him off with no rhythm at all, and the most erotic sounds Frank had ever heard were falling out of Gerard's mouth, steadily getting louder until he grabbed onto Frank's shoulders and pulled him down, burying his face in the crook of Frank's neck as he cried out, fingernails digging in to the point of discomfort. Frank didn't really notice, because all he could feel right now was this peculiar burst of warmth in his chest that he had been getting quite a lot lately.

xxx

Frank frowned, eyes blinking open, and it took them a moment to adjust to the darkness. His back hurt like hell, and his neck was stiff, and someone's elbow was poking into his stomach. He looked down and smiled when he saw Gerard drooling all over the throw pillows that he had carefully picked out at the store to match their curtains all those years ago. It was a bittersweet memory, because Gerard had been picking out cushions for his and LynZ's house, not his and Frank's. But still, it had been just the two of them, arguing over whether blue cushions or black and white ones would match better, until Gerard decided that they could use both and mix them up.  
Frank groaned as he sat up, stretching his sore muscles and wincing when he heard multiple clicks from his back and neck, then rolled his shoulders to get out the rest of them. Falling asleep on a couch was a horrible idea. Not only was it uncomfortable, it was also freezing, because both him and Gerard were naked and had no blanket over them. Frank stood up and walked to his bedroom, stepping over the dried splatters of come on the floor as he went.  
When he flicked on the light, the first thing he did was grab a blanket for Gerard, and went back out to the living room to cover him with it. Then, he grimaced at the crustiness of his hands and stomachi, and nearly sprinted to the shower.

xxx

"Are you trying to drown yourself in there or something?" Gerard frowned, peeking his head into the bathroom and shouting at the shower curtain to be heard over the sound of the water.  
"I'll be done in a minute, Gerard," Frank giggled, poking his head around the curtain to stick his tongue out at his boyfriend.  
Boyfriend.  
Frank giggled to himself again, and Gerard just looked confusedly amused.  
"I feel kinda gross, and, believe it or not, I wanna shower, too," Gerard rolled his eyes, stepping fully into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him, sitting on the closed toilet seat lid and smirking at Frank in this way that was probably not _supposed_ to get him all hot and bothered.  
"Join me here, then," Frank waggled his eyebrows, though Gerard probably wouldn't be able to see, since his bangs were plastered to his forehead and tickling his eyelashes from the water.  
"Finally," Gerard grinned, standing up to pull off the boxers he had grabbed off the floor on his way to the bathroom from the couch.  
Frank laughed and ducked his head back into the shower, grabbing the shampoo bottle off the little corner shelf they had. He was about to pop the lid open when Gerard's hands appeared from behind him, taking the bottle and squeezing out some of the soap for Frank.  
"Don't get any in my eyes," Frank warned him, and Gerard just made a humming noise, before he ran his hands through Frank's hair, massaging in the shampoo until it got all bubbly. "That feels so _nice_ ," Frank sighed, practically purring as he leaned his head back into Gerard's fingers.  
"Thanks," Gerard said, and Frank could hear the smile in his voice before he pressed a soft kiss to the back of Frank's neck. "Blegh, soap in my mouth," he grumbled.  
"You love me, really," Frank teased, tipping his head under the water to wash out the foam, turning around so he could properly look at Gerard.  
"Yeah," Gerard agreed, blushing. Frank just poured some body wash onto the loofah, gesturing for Gerard to turn around.  
"Here, lemme get your back for you."

xxx

When they stepped out of the shower and wrapped matching towels around their waists, Frank just paused to cringe at how domestic they had become.  
"We were _rockstars_ , man," he mused, and Gerard looked up at him, wide eyed, from his position of leaning against Frank's side, tucked under the younger man's arm on the sofa as they watched Mulan.  
"Yeah," he giggled, reaching down and scratching his knee through a hole in his pajama pants. "Still don't know how that one happened."  
"You know what sucks, though? Why I feel like we should have been a band for a little longer?" Frank sat up properly, and Gerard shifted to face him, frowning.  
"What?"  
"We never got to trash a hotel room," Frank whined.  
"Well, that's a good thing, because-" Gerard started, but Frank cut him off.  
"Because YOU have to be all angelic to everyone-"  
"It's called being courteous-"  
"-ruined all the fun-"  
"-they work hard, they don't need some punks making thing harder-"  
"You wouldn't even let us leave towels on the floor!"  
Gerard paused, then shrugged in defeat.  
"Okay, sorry," he smiled winningly at Frank, who rolled his eyes and snuggled back into Gerard, resuming their original position with his arm slung around the singer.  
They fell back into a comfortable silence, where Gerard was watching the movie and mouthing the lines as it played, and Frank watched him watch the movie.  
Gerard was about to fall asleep on Frank during the fight scene in the palace, but them the doorbell rang, jolting him out of his half-asleep state.  
"Gerard, get off me, I have to answer that," Frank sighed, wiggling his arm to prove his point.  
"But you're warm," Gerard pouted, latching on tighter.  
"I will count to three," Frank warned.  
"Ha, that doesn't scare me," Gerard stuck his tongue out. Frank giggled and leaned down to kiss him.  
"If I get to three, you will never see your Rihanna poster again," Frank smirked. "The Umbrella one, not the Disturbia one," Frank amended when Gerard opened his mouth.  
Gerard shut his mouth and narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't."  
"Try me," Frank shot back. Gerard's eyes widened comically, and he scrambled off of Frank. "That's better," Frank nodded, standing up to get the door.  
As soon as the door opened, Mikey pushed past him and into the room.  
"Um, hey, Mikey?" Frank smiled confusedly.  
"Mikey?!" Gerard's voice asked from the living room.  
"Why didn't you guys tell me?" Mikey frowned, ignoring Gerard's exclamation, even when Gerard stumbled into the hall and pulled him into a hug.  
"Tell you what? Gerard, leave your poor brother alone," Frank rolled his eyes, tugging Gerard away from a disgruntled Mikey, who shot him a grateful look.  
"That you two are together!" he said, frustratedly, waving his arms around.  
"Well, it's, like, a recent thing," Gerard said defensively, nervously wetting his lips and shooting Frank a glance.  
"I should've been the first person to know, but I find out through _Gabe_. How the hell does Gabe know before me?" Mikey glared at both if them. They both cowered.  
"Look, Mikey, we're really sorry, but...uh. No one was actually supposed to find out, it's just that everyone sorta guessed. We never told anyone," Frank explained.  
"Besides Bert," Gerard added unhelpfully. Frank stepped on his foot.  
"But that was sort of an accident, too."  
Mikey gave them each unimpressed looks that could curdle milk, before sighing, and shaking his head.  
"Whatever," he mumbled, allowing himself a small smile. "Anyways, I'm happy for you two."  
"Thanks," Gerard practically glowed, grabbing Frank's hand, squeezing a little. Frank chuckled and rolled his eyes.  
"So now, I'm assuming, we'll actually have a legit answer for the fans when they ask us who tops?" Mikey smirked.  
Gerard stared at him for a moment, blushing.  
"That was your subtle way of asking, wasn't it?" Frank asked, waggling his eyebrows. Mikey didn't even blush or look embarrassed.  
"Well?" he urged.  
"I do," Frank finally admitted. Gerard shrieked in indignance, storming away.  
"NEVER PEGGED YOU AS SOMEONE TO KISS AND TELL," he called behind him as he went. Frank rolled his eyes. He had noticed himself doing that a lot lately.  
"I figured," Mikey laughed, then paused to grimace. "Not that I actually thought about it. Anyway, I have ten bucks to collect from Pete," he said dismissively, turning back to leave.  
"What? Why?" Frank furrowed his brow in confusion.  
"He thinks that you'd bottom just because you're shorter," Mikey explained, ducking outside quickly while Frank processed that.  
"You had a _bet?!_ " he yelled out after Mikey, who just waved and jumped into his car.

xxx

They saw Jamia at the grocery store with Rodney a few weeks later, obviously pregnant and practically glowing with mother-to-be-ness.  
"Is that Jamia?" Gerard had asked while they were arguing over cake mix. When Frank turned to look, Gerard grabbed the chocolate mix and put it in the cart.  
"Yeah, it is," Frank shrugged, conflicted. He didn't quite know how to feel, seeing as he was in love with someone else now, but he wasn't quite over their relationship (is that normal?) and also the fact that she had cheated on him, but now they both seemed happier and it was obvious that she was just bad at breaking up with people and wasn't actually planning to string him along. And she looked so happy and beautiful with her belly all swollen, and she was holding that Rodney guy's hand, and he almost wanted to smile. They were cute together.  
After a moment's hesitation, he finally walked over, smiling brightly.  
"Jamia! Hey!" She looked up at his voice, smiling quizzically.  
"Hey, Frank." Rodney's eyes widened and he tightened his hold on her hand.  
"How are you doing?" he asked, hands in his pockets, eyes trailing back down to her bump.  
"I'm fine. It's a boy, if you were wondering," Jamia spoke up, and Frank forced himself to look up at her face.  
"Congratulations. How far along are you?" he asked, and now it was slightly awkward, seeing as he shouldn't have been congratulating her if it was his kid, and he knew how far she was already. Five months. He forced himself to realize that this wasn't his kid, though, hard as it was.  
"Five months," Jamia smiled down at her swollen belly, hands automatically falling down to land over it.  
"I will be expecting Christmas cards," Frank nodded, not really meaning it but being genuine at the same time, and they were spared from any more half forced conversation when Gerard bounded up to him with an armful of frosting jars.  
"Gee, no," he sighed, taking some from the scowling older man.  
"I will break up with you," Gerard threatened.  
"I will draw a mustache on your Rihanna poster."  
"You already threatened her! You can't reuse threats!" Gerard complained, arms flailing, sending a couple of the (thankfully plastic) jars to the ground.  
"Put them back," Frank frowned, rubbing a hand over his face. Gerard pouted for a moment until he huffed and stormed away.  
"Honestly, it's like taking care of a little kid sometimes," he laughed, turning back to Jamia.  
"Hm, yeah. Sorry, but, are you two... Together now?" Jamia asked, confused and more than a little curious. Rodney just looked uncomfortable.  
"Wha...? Oh, yeah," Frank nodded, failing at holding back a fond smile.  
Jamia nodded. "Oh."  
"Look, I better go before he picks up something even more sugary, I'll see you around, okay?" Frank said, making as if to leave.  
"Yeah, it was nice seeing you again," Jamia smiled, waving a little before she reclaimed Rodney's hand, and they headed for the produce section together, Jamia waddling a little.  
Frank smiled and went off in search for his boyfriend.

xxx

"I am never taking you grocery shopping again," Frank grumbled, parking the car in the driveway but stopping Gerard when he moved to unbuckle his seatbelt.  
"It was an _accident_ ," Gerard whined, for the umpteenth time. "And you aren't my mom. I don't need a lecture."  
"Why did you even think for a moment that trying to balance all those eggs was a good idea? And why did you have to do it by the _pickle jar pyramid_ of all places?" Frank cried out, throwing his hand in the air.  
Like he just don't care.  
"I said I was _sorry_ ," Gerard sulked.  
Frank just sat there for a while, watching Gerard glower out the window with a disgustingly soft look on his face.  
"I love you," he murmured softly, taking Gerard's hand and rubbing his thumb over the knuckles before kissing them.  
Gerard turned his face back to Frank, cheeks flushing into a pleasant pink color that didn't really suit him, but Frank didn't even notice.  
"I love you too," he giggled, and Frank smiled against his hand.  
"Yeah?"  
"A little," Gerard teased. Frank grinned dopily at him, leaning over the cup holder to kiss Gerard, holding his face in his tattooed hands and rubbing Gerard's cheekbones with his thumbs, swiping under his eyes, fingers pressed into the sides of his face. Gerard released a pleased sort of sigh, from deep within his chest, and slid closer to Frank. Frank just tugged gently at Gerard's pants leg, until he took the hint and broke this kiss to crawl over the cup holder and into Frank's lap, knocking over some empty cups and some weird dishtowel ring Gerard had saved from their weird neighbors' trash can before they left for the store.  
Gerard pouted and looked at the offending foot that had knocked over everything and made him look like, once again, a clumsy idiot that was not sexy at all. Frank just giggled and replaced his hands on Gerard's cheeks, pulling him down for another kiss.  
Gerard was making these slight squeaking noises when Frank licked at the seam of his lips, urging them to part so that he could trace over the slightly broken inside of his lips, where Gerard bites them when he's nervous or bored. Gerard, flapping his hands around uselessly and not quite knowing what to do with them, finally settled for sliding them between Frank's jacket and his warm t-shirt, around to the small of his back, fingertips nudging at the base of Frank's spine, knowing fully well what that did to his boyfriend. Frank shuddered into Gerard's mouth, pulling back for breath before diving back in, even harder this time, and the kisses turned very dirty very fast.  
"C'mon....baby, get off....gotta go inside," Frank mumbled between kisses, each time they broke apart punctuated with soft smacking noises, getting louder as their embraces turned desperate.  
Gerard ignored him, or maybe he just didn't hear him over the rushing in his own ears, and broke away to bend his back at am uncomfortable angle so he could mouth at Frank's neck, determined to leave a mark. He had mastered making hickeys that didn't stay for very long, and it really did come in handy.  
Frank just mumbled incoherently under his breath, whispering unintelligible things to the older man, brushing a hand through his hair, closing into a fist and tugging sharply when Gerard bit down on his shoulder.  
"Can we...," Frank gasped, as Gerard rubbed his hips down against his own, erections feeling that wonderful friction, less like throwing water over a fire than feeding it so that it stayed a comfortable size. "Can we go in-FUCK!" he cried out when Gerard reached one of his hands down from Frank's waist, dragging his fingers down his side, over his hip, until it turned left and palmed over his boner. Frank whined high in his throat, mind clogged with need, as he angled his hips up and into Gerard's soft hand, artist finger rubbing him just right.  
"Yeah?" Gerard asked, saying it through his breath, lungs too spent from the kissing to calm down enough for him to talk a moment.  
"Please, Gerard," Frank groaned, burying his face under Gerard's longish red hair and burying it in the crook of the singer's neck.  
"Okay, inside, yeah," Gerard nodded, determinedly trying to get off Frank's lap and finding himself awkwardly stuck. "Um."  
He was just _so_ sexy.

xxx

Frank woke up with a start, realizing that Valentine's Day was in a _month_ , and he hadn't done _anything_. He looked over at Gerard, who was sleeping contentedly with dried come on his bare chest.  
Frank smiled to himself, thinking of how different this year was gonna be, how so much had changed and how he wasn't complaining.  
Then he flicked the desk light on and saw the massive drool stain on Gerard's pillow, and he chuckled to himself, sliding out of bed to pull on underwear and socks and kiss his best friend's forehead, thinking how some thing never change.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments appreciated?


End file.
